Report on the Mycological Diagnostic Laboratory, the Queen's University of Belfast, 1960

THIS is the second annual report of the Mycological Diagnostic Service and covers the work done during 1960. After September, 1960, the laboratory was incorporated into the Queen's University Department of Microbiology without any change in the scope or function of the diagnostic service. The laboratory continued to offer to general practitioners, hospital laboratories, and clinics a routine service for the isolation and identification of fungi associated with humans. During 1960 mycological examinations were made on 1,376 specimens from 897 patients, received from 26 hospitals or clinics, or from practices in Northern Ireland. Almost 98 per cent. of the specimens received came from dermatological clinics or practices, those originating from general practice accounting for only 2.2 per cent. of the total number received. Pathogenic fungi were cultured on 350 occasions from 237 patients, but an additional 50 specimens showed the presence of fungi by microscopy alone.