REVIEW ON GENERAL

MYCOLOGY

 Fungi are eukaryotic organisms.

Their cell wall consists of chitin.
Their cell membrane contains
ergosterol

Classification of fungi

Morphological
Clinical
classification
Systematic
classification

Classification based on fungal

morphology

General mycology5

Yeast
s
Oval or round cells that reproduce by
budding to form blastospores or
blastoconidia.
May form pseudohyphae.
Examples: Candida, Cryptococcus.

General mycology7

Yeast cells
General mycology8

Molds
Also called filamentous fungi or
mycelial fungi.
The filaments called hyphae.
Hyphae interlace to form mycelium.

General mycology9

 Hyphae on culture plate are two types:

vegetative hyphae for absorbing
nutrients and aerial hyphae that carry
conidia.
Hyphae may be septate or aseptate
(coenocytic).
Reproduce by formation of conidia.
Conidia may be unicellular (microconidia)
or multicellular (macroconidia).
Examples are: dermatophytes &
Aspergillus.
General mycology10

Hyphae
General mycology11

Types of
hyphae
General mycology12

Dimorphi
c fungi
These fungi occur in two forms:
1.At the room temperature (22 degree),
filamentous form (Saprobic phase).
2.In the body (37 degree), yeast form
(Parasitic phase).
Examples: Histoplasma, Blastomyces,
Coccidiodes.
General mycology13

Clinical
classification

14

Superficia
l mycoses
Fungal infections confined to the stratum
corneum without tissue invasion.

Example: Tinea versicolor caused by Malassezia

furfur.

Cutaneous
mycoses
Fungal infections that involve
keratinized tissues as skin, hair, nail.
Examples are: dermatophytes &
cutaneous candidiasis.

Subcutaneous
mycoses
Fungal infections that are confined to
subcutaneous tissues without
dissemination to distant sites.
Examples are: mycetoma,
chromomycosis, sporotrichosis.

Systemic
mycoses
Also called endemic mycoses.
Begin as primary pulmonary lesions
that may disseminate to any organ.
Caused by dimorphic fungi.

General mycology18

Opportunistic
mycoses
Affect immunocompromised individuals
Examples are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Systemic candidiasis.
Cryptococcosis.
Aspergillosis.
Mucor & rhizopus.
Pneumocystis infections.

 In addition to the above infections,

there are two other kinds of fungal
diseases:

General mycology20

Allergy
Allergy occurs to fungal spores
particularly those of aspergillus and
alternaria fungi.
Allergy is mostly type hypersensitivity
such as bronchial asthma.

Toxicosis
1-Mycetismus

The fungal flesh itself is toxic.

Amanita mushroom poisoning.

toxic. Amanita

2Mycotoxicosi
s
Ergotism which is caused by the mold
Claviceps purpura. This mold infects
grains and produce alkaloids (ergotamine
and LSD) that cause neurological effects.
Aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus
which infects grains and peanuts. This
toxin is hepatotoxic and suspected of
causing hepatic carcinoma.

Systematic
classification
It is based on the type of
sporulation, sexual & asexual.

Systematic classification

 Deuteromycetes are fungi that form only

asexual spores.

Asexual spores include the following

types:
1.Blastospores: produced by budding of yeast cells.
2.Conidia: conidia may be microconidia or
macroconidia.

3.Arthrospores: arise by fragmentation of hyphae.

4.Chlamydospores: rounded thick walled spores .
Produced by candida.

5.Sporangiospores: spores formed within a sac

called sporangium. Formed by zygomycetes.

Blastoconi
dia

Microconidi
a

Macroconidi
a

Arthrospor
es

Chlamydospor
es

Sporangiospores

Laboratory diagnosis

1-Specimen:
Skin scales, nails, hair clippings for
dermatophyte examination.
2-Microscopic examination of these
specimens using KOH 10%:
KOH dissolves keratin but does not
affect fungi. Branching hyphae are
detected among epithelial cells.
Types of fungal stains:
*Lactophenol cotton blue
* Giemsa stains trophozoites of
Pneumocystis jiroveci.
* Toluidine blue stains cysts of
Pneumocystis jiroveci.

* Calcofluor white stain is a fluorescent stain.

* Gomori methenamine silver (GMS) stains
fungal cells black in tissue sections.
* Periodic acid Schiff (PAS stain).
* India ink is a negative stain for the capsule
of Cryptococcus neoformans.
*Direct immunofluorescence.
using flourescent microscope .

4- Direct detection of fungal antigens:

e.g. latex agglutination test.
Cryptococcal antigens are detected directly
in CSF samples using latex agglutination
test.

5-Culture:

 Identification of the isolated fungus on

culture is done by:
1-For molds: identification is done by :
Macroscopic examination Microscopic examination

Morphology of the
colony:
color on surface and
reverse

1-Direct examination
2-Slide culture

2-For yeasts: identification is done

by :
1-Microscopic examination
2-Biochemical reactions
-Oval shap of the
cell
Size of the cells
budding Gram +Ve

-Different biochemical test

e.g. sugar fermentation ,..

e.g. Candida albicans is

differentiated from other candida
species by:
1-Germ tube test
2-Ferment glucose and maltose with acid and
gas production
3-Chlamydospore
formation

Germ tube

Chlamydospore

6-Indirect methods for diagnosis:

Skin testing
a)Used to evaluate the patient immunity.
b)Used to construct exposure index in epidemiological
studies.
c)It may result in false positive serological tests.

Serological
tests

a)The most common tests are: latex agglutination tests

for detecting IGM and complement fixation test for
detecting IgG.
b)The major problem is : poor immunogenicity of fungal
cell wall components.