Mycology and diagnostics Flashcards
What are the characteristic of Fungi as a kingdom?
eumycota, eukaryotic, ergosterol cell membrane, cell wall- glucans and chitin, heterotrophic metabolism (need to be fed)
What are the morphologies of fungi? subclasses?
yeast, mold- fleshy fungi (mushroom- reproductive structure)-> terranean and subterranean and dimorphic- yeast or mold depending on environmental conditions (typically temp)
What are the morphologic features of mold?
unicellular, non-filamentous (budding cells- trying to reproduce or pseudohyphae= elongated bud)
What are the morphological features of mold (mould)?
multi-cellular, fiamentous- hyphae (septate or non-septate) and mycelium (interwoven mass of hyphae)
What is a conidia? What doe sthe color of mold growing tell you?
a mold spore; white= less likely spores are being released, color change= spores being released
What are mushrooms?
aerial reproductive structure, hyohae in soil; basidium with basidiospores
What are the morphologic features of dimorphic fungi?
mold at room temp (environmental form), infectious via inhalation, yeast t body temp (37C), diagnostic form, presumptive in vivo, not infectious
What is taxonomy?
reproductive structure (basis for ID and classification, which determines pathogenesis and epidemiology, name of disease, only see vegetative in vivo (require in vitro culture to ID by repro struct.), rare to see repro structures in vivo
How are fungi named?
generally 2 names: anamorph (asexual name, in vivo-lab) and teleomorph (sexual, prefect state, see both in vitro)
what are general features of asexual structures? examples in mold? yeast?
involve mitosis; arthroconidium, macroconidium, microconidium, and sporangiospore; blastoconidium and chlamydoconidium
what are the features of a arthroconidium? Characteristic species?
within hyphae, rectangular to barrel-shaped cells; coccidioides immitis
What are the features of microconidium? Macrocondium? Characteristic species?
smaller of two; larger of two, usually multicellular; demratophytes
What are the features of a sporangiospore? Characteristic species?
produced with a sporangium; rhizopus spp.
What are the features of blastoconidium? characteristic species?
produced by yeast cells, “budding”; all yeast
What are the features of chlamydoconidium? characteristic species?
tip of psuedohyphae, ID for candida albicans (most common disease causing) and candida dubliniensis
what are the general features of sexual forms of reproductive structures? examples?
involve meiosis; can involve mating of two different fungal strains of same species (compatible) or ability to produce structure without mating (hermaphroditic, male and female); acospore, basidiospore, zygospore
What are the features of acospores? characteristic mold species? yeast?
spores within an ascus; pseudallescheria boydii, hermaphrodite, sexual name; saccharomyces cerevisiae, hermaphrodite, sexual name
What are the features of zygospores? characteristic species?
naked spores; rhizopus spp. requires mating (asexual name same as sexual)
What are the features of basidiospores? characteristic species?
formed on basidium (mushroom), amanita spp., hermaphroditic, no asexual state
what is the basis of fungal classification?
nature of sexual spores orlack thereof, hyphal characteristic (septate or not)
What are the phylum under eumycota? classes under?
Perfect Fungi- zygomycota (produce zygospores), Ascomycota (ascospore and septated hyphae), basidiomycota (mushrooms); and Imperfect Fungi- deuteromycota
what are the methods of direct detection in the lab?
gram stain, calcofluor white stain, KOH prep, Wet mount, Woods Lamp, India Ink stain; and histopathology
what are the features of gram staining fungi?
yeasts- gram (+), mold- stain poorly
What are the features of calcofluor white stain?
stains chitin in fungal cell wall, need fluorescence microscope
What are the features of KOH?
same as draino, chews up proteins, use with keratinized tissues- skin, hair nails, look for dermatophytes (ringworm)
What are the features of Wet mount?
oral or vaginal secretions, budding yeast= usually thrush; turn light down to see
What are the features of Wood’s Lamp?
UV light, fluoresce dermatophytes and demratophytosis (ringworm, esp in hair)
What are the features of india ink stain?
CSF, encapsulated yeast, cryptococcosis (cryptococcal meningitis from cryptococcal neoformans, very common in immune compromised)
What are the features of histopathology?
GMS (gemori methenamine silver) stain= mold w/ hyphae; Mayer’s mucicarmine stains yeast pink (mucin capsule, Cryptococcus neoformans); PAS (periodic acid-Schiff) stain- yeats and mold inernal structures (pink)
What medium is selective for fungi? fetaures of it?
Sab (Sabouraud dextrose agar), low pH, nutrionally deficient, 2+ days yeast, 7+ days mold, may take 4 wks, forces sporulation, and weeds out B
What is a biochemical test that can be performed for yeast?
germ tube test, ID candida albicans/dubliniensis, has candida albicans complex, grow culture 48 hrs, put in complex and incubate 2-3 hours, lateral hyphal extension is positive
What are the features of mold ID from culture?
culture medium growth characteristics, hyphal structure (septate or not), reproductive structures, requires well trained eyes
What are the features of serologic diagnosis of fungi?
Ab- not reliable or useful in immunocomprimised or neutropenic; Ag- latex agglutination- cryptococcal Ag in CSF for following treatment, and Serum galactomannan- Ag from aspergillus hyphae, not great, adjunct to follow therapy
What are some methods of culture confirmation?
nucleic acid probes (only approved for lab grown culture not tissue specimen, not cheap) and sequence analysis comparison- must have pathogen in mind, undergoing eval
What are the different main categories of fungal pathogenesis?
true pathogen- problem with even normal immune system, opportunistic- only problem in immunocomprimised
What are the factors behind fungal ability to cause disease?
colonize host, suitable micro-environment niche, avoid or subvert host normal defenses, multiple in environmental niche
What are known factors of fungal virulence?
highly researched don’t know much;grow at 37C and physiologic pH 7.3, produce proteinases- keratinase, phospholipase
What aspects of immune system play a role in fungal infections?
phagocytes primary role (if neutropenia at inc. risk), cell mediated (Tcells major) and humoral (B cells minor)
What is mycetismus?
poisoning by ingestion of fruiting bodies (mushroom poisoning)