Intra- and interspecies variations of the translation elongation factor 1-α (Tef-1α) gene were evaluated as a new identification marker in a wide range of dermatophytes, which included 167 strains of 30 species. An optimized pan-dermatophyte primer pair was designed, and the target was sequenced. Consensus sequences were used for multiple alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis and the levels ...

INTRODUCTION There are limited numbers of studies which focused on the identification of Malassezia yeasts to a species level in onychomycosis. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine the prevalence and species composition of Malassezia yeasts in patients with clinically suspected onychomycosis and to examine if the range of species varies with patient gender, age, site of involvement ...

The composition and antifungal activity of clove essential oil (EO), obtained from Syzygium aromaticum, were studied. Clove oil was obtained commercially and analysed by GC and GC-MS. The EO analysed showed a high content of eugenol (85.3 %). MICs, determined according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute protocols, and minimum fungicidal concentration were used to evaluate the antifu...

The composition of the essential oil (EO) of Thapsia villosa (Apiaceae), isolated by hydrodistillation from the plant's aerial parts, was analysed by GC and GC-MS. Antifungal activity of the EO and its main components, limonene (57.5%) and methyleugenol (35.9%), were evaluated against clinically relevant yeasts (Candida spp., Cryptococcus neoformans and Malassezia furfur) and moulds (Aspergillu...

OBJECTIVES The activity in vitro of terbinafine against 442 clinical isolates of several species of filamentous fungi was analysed. METHODS A broth microdilution test was carried out following the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards reference method, with modifications described previously. RESULTS The geometric mean (GM) of MICs of terbinafine for non-Aspergillus fumigatus...

Dermatophyte test media (DTM) and Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) are well established media for recovery of dermatophytes from clinical samples of dermatophytosis. Skin, hair and nail samples were mycologically examined from 112 patients attending Outpatient Clinic of Dermatology and Veneriology in Mansoura University Hospital in an attempt to compare dermatophyte identification media (DIM) wi...

Tinea manuum is a fungal infection of the hands caused by dermatophytes. It can present with erythema and minimal scale on the dorsum of the hand. However, chronic tinea manuum lesions located on the palmar region may be scaly and hyperkeratotic. Tinea manuum usually affects the dominant hand but it can also occur bilaterally. The term ‘tinea incognito’ is used to describe a dermatophyte infect...

The dermatophyte, Micros porum audouinii, is the most common cause of epidermic tinea capitis of children in this country. Epidemics involving thousands of school children have been reported from all parts of the United States. This fungus is considered by most investigators to be anthropophilic. However, there are recorded in the literature three cases of lower animal infections. In two instan...

BACKGROUND The cutaneous mycoses, mainly caused by dermatophyte fungi, are among the most common fungal infections worldwide. It is estimated that 10% to 15% of the population will be infected by a dermatophyte at some point in their lives, thus making this a group of diseases with great public health importance. OBJECTIVE To analyze the clinical, epidemiological, and therapeutic profile of d...

During primary Trichophyton mentagrophytes infection of strain 2 guinea pigs, the colony-forming units (CFU) of fungi present within the lesion peaked between days 7 and 14, whereas the severity of the lesion itself peaked between days 11 and 16. Concomitant with the latter peak, a pronounced depression in the in vitro mitogenic activity of spleen cells (SPC) and lymph node cells (LNC) was obse...