Exserohilum rostratum is the most common pathogen in the current U.S. outbreak of fungal central nervous system infection, septic arthritis, and localized spinal or paraspinal infections (1). Rapid laboratory diagnosis is urgently needed but is unfortunately still limited. Only 30% of the 372 case patient specimens sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had PCR evidence su...

We assessed Calcofluor white staining, Aspergillus polymerase chain reaction, and a galactomannan enzyme immunoassay for diagnosis of fungal infection with use of computed tomography-guided percutaneous lung biopsy specimens obtained from 61 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of computerized tomography, Aspergillus polymerase chain reaction, and galactomannan enzyme immunoassay were 100%...

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Galacomannan was isolated from Trigonella foenum graceum Linn Family: Leguminosae (TF) seeds. The objective was to study the anabolic and androgenic activity of galactomannan in immature castrated male rats and also on testicular histology in non-castrated immature rats. The rats (55± 5 g) were castrated. The rats were treated with either vehicle, testosterone (10 mg/kg s.c. bi weekly) or galac...

We report a reactive Aspergillus galactomannan enzymatic immunoassay against the serum of a patient with invasive Prototheca zopfii infection. Analysis of the supernatants of suspensions of P. zopfii and other Prototheca isolates revealed positive results as well. These data suggest cross-reactivity with the serum Aspergillus galactomannan assay in invasive protothecosis.

BACKGROUND Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with hematological malignancies in the setting of profound neutropenia and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Early diagnosis and therapy has been shown to improve outcomes, but reaching a definitive diagnosis quickly can be problematic. Recently, galactomannan testing of bronchoal...

This study investigated the role of CBM35 from Clostridium thermocellum (CtCBM35) in polysaccharide recognition. CtCBM35 was cloned into pET28a (+) vector with an engineered His6 tag and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. A homogenous 15 kDa protein was purified by immobilized metal ion chromatography (IMAC). Ligand binding analysis of CtCBM35 was carried out by affinity electropho...

invasive aspergillosis is one the major causes of death in hematopoietic and solidtransplantrecipients. one of the most critical problems in medical mycology is theinability to consistently make a convincing and early diagnosis of invasive fungalinfection. conventional diagnosis methods such as culture-based approaches are limitedby the insufficient accessibility sensitivity and the non-culture...

We present a case of an immunocompromised woman with fever, pulmonary infiltrates and multiple bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cultures positive for Penicillium citrinum with a concomitant high BAL galactomannan level. We report the results of Aspergillus galactomannan testing performed on culture supernatants from her P. citrinum strain that confirmed the suspected cross-reactivity. Finally, we d...