A Potential Explanation of a Positive Serum β-Glucan Assay in Mucormycosis To the Editor—I read with interest the nice study by Angebault et al [1] that gives a " real world " picture of the subop-timal performance of the serum β-glucan assay. Unexpectedly, the authors found that serum β-glucan test was positive in 3 of the 6 cases of mucormycosis in their series with no apparent cause of false...

The methods that Dr. Richard K. Benjamin used to isolate Zygomycetes are discussed. These processes involved the following five steps: (1) collection, (2) plating, (3) isolation, (4) culture, and (5) maintenance. Additional methods, materials and modifications used to isolate Zygomycetes are summarized. The author considers the flattening of the aerial hyphae onto the substrate of the fasterand...

MCM: mucormycosis PAS: periodic acideSchiff INTRODUCTION Mucormycosis (MCM) is a fungal infection from members of the Mucorales order of fungi found almost exclusively in immunocompromised patients. The number of these infections seems to be increasing, presumably paralleling the increasing numbers of people with diminished immune surveillance. Primary cutaneous MCM in healthy patients is rare ...

The objective of this study was to isolate and identify fungal species found in natural association with adults of Musca domestica. The adult insects were collected from two natural breeding grounds: hog pens and an urban sanitary landfill. The isolated fungi were identified as: Aspergillus flavus (23.8%), A. niger var. niger (14.4%), Penicillium corylophilum (21.4%), P. fellutanum (11.9%), Cla...

Mucormycosis is a life threatening infection caused by fungi in the order Mucorales. Mucormycosis can affect any organ system with rhino-orbital-cerebral and pulmonary infections being the most predominant infection types. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis is rare and accounts for only 4-7% of all cases. Here, we present a case of invasive gastrointestinal mucormycosis in an immunocompromised host ...

Pine sawdust (9 kg m−2) was ploughed into soils, intended for future forestry plantations, that had been left for 3 or 6 years after previously being used for agriculture. Two years after the amendment, soil pH had changed in both sites and the C:N ratio had increased. Total fungal populations decreased after the treatment. A small decrease in the number of species was not statistically signifi...

Mucormycosis is a rare and life-threatening fungal infection of the Mucorales order occurring mainly in immunosuppressed patients. The most common forms are rhinocerebral but pulmonary or disseminated forms may occur. We report the case of a 61-year-old patient in whom pulmonary mucormycosis was diagnosed during his first-ever episode of diabetic ketoacidosis. While receiving liposomal amphoter...