BACKGROUND The frequency of invasive opportunistic mycoses has increased significantly over the past decades especially in immunocompromised patients. Invasive aspergillosis (IA) has become a major cause of morbidity and mortality among these patients. As bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples are generally useful specimens in the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), this st...

The aim of this study was to determine the mycoflora of poultry feeds and evaluate the aflatoxin and ochratoxins producing ability of isolated Aspergillus species. One hundred and nineteen samples of commercially prepared and farm mixed feeds were collected during 20052007. The samples were inoculated on potato dextrose agar, Czapek dox solution agar, Czapek yeast autolysate agar and yeast extr...

Given the high protein binding rates of antifungal drugs and the effect of serum proteins on Aspergillus growth, we investigated the in vitro pharmacodynamics of amphotericin B, voriconazole, and three echinocandins in the presence of human serum, assessing both inhibitory and fungicidal effects. In vitro inhibitory (IC) and fungicidal (FC) concentrations against 5 isolates of Aspergillus fumig...

The aim of the present study was to identify retrospectively trends in the species distributions and the susceptibility patterns of Aspergillus species causing fungal infections in Spanish medical centers from 2000 to 2002. The susceptibilities of 338 isolates to amphotericin B, itraconazole, and voriconazole were tested. Aspergillus fumigatus was the most common species (54.7%), followed by As...

The efficiency of different natural plant extracts and of the chemical fungicide Micronite was carried out to determine their effects on the soil fungi particularly phytopathogenic and mycotoxigenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria alternata and Aspergillus flavus. In vitro studies were carried out to test the antifungal activity of 4 plant extracts; performed with either cold distilled wat...

Infections due to Aspergillus species cause significant morbidity and mortality. Most are attributed to Aspergillus fumigatus, followed by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus terreus. Aspergillus niger is a mould that is rarely reported as a cause of pneumonia. A 72-year-old female with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and temporal arteritis being treated with steroids long term presented w...

Two essential oils of Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown (Verbenacea), the carvone and citral chemotypes and 15 of their compounds were evaluated to determine cytotoxicity and antifungal activity. Cytotoxicity assays for both the citral and carvone chemotypes were carried out with tetrazolium-dye, which showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect against HeLa cells. Interestingly, this effect on the e...

We compared the E test with a broth microdilution method, performed according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards document M27-A guidelines, for determining the in vitro susceptibilities of 90 isolates of pathogenic molds (10 Absidia corymbifera, 10 Aspergillus flavus, 10 Aspergillus fumigatus, 10 Aspergillus niger, 10 Aspergillus terreus, 10 Exophiala dermatitidis, 10 Fusar...

Aspergillus species are the cause of invasive mold infections in immunocompromised patients: Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus and A. terreus account for most cases of invasive aspergillosis (IA). As certain species are associated with higher mortality and vary in their resistance to antifungal therapy, diagnosis requires increasingly rapid molecular methods that enable sensitive detection and s...

background: this study was performed to determine antifungal activity of silver nanoparticles (nano-ag) compared to voriconazole on clinical and standard strains of aspergillus fumigatus. materials and methods: inhibitory potency of nano-ag was determined using microtiter broth dilution method. susceptibility tests were performed against a. fumigatus isolated from bal (bronchoalveolar lavage) o...