Assessment of species distribution and virulence factors of oral fungal carriage among hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a case-control study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to study oral fungal carriage and its potential impact. In oral fungal environments, factors like changes in respiratory epithelium, increased pathogen attachment, local inflammation, and virulence factors could influence COVID-19 severity. The authors conducted a study to explore oral fungal carriage in COVID-19 patients and compare it to a healthy control group. Methods: The authors executed a case-control investigation including 144 COVID-19 patients and an equivalent number of 144 healthy controls. The matching criteria encompassed age, sex, body mass index, and the history of antibiotic and antiviral medication intake. This research was performed over a span of 12 months from May 2021 to May 2022. The mouth area was sampled with a cotton-tipped swab. Subsequently, all the samples underwent fungal culture and PCR-sequencing procedures. Results: In COVID-19 patients, oral fungal carriage was three times higher compared to healthy controls. Candida was the exclusive genus found in both groups, with Candida albicans being the most frequently isolated species (90.79%). Among COVID-19 patients, Candida species showed significantly higher esterase, proteinase, and hemolysin activity compared to healthy individuals. Both groups exhibited elevated levels of C. albicans virulence factors compared to non-albicans species. Conclusions: It is crucial to understand the way that virulence factors of oral fungal carriage act in COVID-19 patients in order to come up with novel antifungal medications, identify the contributing factors to drug resistance, and manage clinical outcomes.

A Mycological and Molecular Epidemiologic Study on Onychomycosis and Determination In Vitro Susceptibilities of Isolated Fungal Strains to Conventional and New Antifungals.

Background: Onychomycosis is one of the most common and recurrent dermatological diseases worldwide. The antimycotic activity of prescribed medications varies according to the causative agents, and treatment failure rates exceeding 30%. This study aimed to assess the epidemiological profile of onychomycosis in Iran. Also, the susceptibilities to conventional and new antifungals were investigated. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, during the period of 18 months starting from September 2019 until March 2020, 594 nail specimens were obtained from patients who presented nail changes compatible with a clinical diagnosis of onychomycosis. The patients were referred from different cities, including Tehran, Kermanshah, Arak, Kashan, Rasht, Qom, Urmia, Zahedan, Hamadan, Zanjan, Borujerd, Bushehr, and Yazd. All the samples were subjected to microscopic examination and fungal culture. Fungi identified were confirmed through the PCR-sequencing method. The susceptibility to itraconazole, fluconazole, terbinafine, griseofulvin, posaconazole, ravuconazole, efinaconazole, luliconazole, and tavaborole was evaluated according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines, document M38-A2 for filamentous fungi, and document M27-A3 for yeasts. Results: 594 patients were included. Of these, in 179 cases (30.1%) (95% CI:0.3 ± 0.037) onychomycosis was confirmed. The majority of patients were ≥ 60 years of age (n=58, 32.6%) and female (n=113, 63.1%). Saprophytic fungi accounted for the vast majority of the nail isolates (n=92, 51.4%) (95% CI:0.051 ± 0.0.073), followed by dermatophytes (n=45, 25.1%) (95% CI:0.25 ± 0.063), and yeasts (n=42, 23.5%) (95% CI:0.23 ± 0.061). Diabetes mellitus (77.3%), hypothyroidism (18.2%), and solid tumors (4.5%) were documented as the most prevalent underlying conditions. Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed against 60 fungal isolates (20 each of Candida species, saprophytic fungi, and dermatophytes). Efinaconazole, ravuconazole, and luliconazole were the most active agents against Candida species. Also, luliconazole, posaconazole, and efinaconazole were most potent against dermatophytes. Luliconazole had the greatest antifungal activity against saprophytic fungi. Conclusions: The prevalence of onychomycosis in Iranian patients was relatively high. LUL exhibited potent antifungal activity against the three groups of fungi tested, determining its broad-spectrum antimycotic activity and its probable use as the first-line therapy for onychomycosis.

Study on invasive aspergillosis using galactomannan enzyme immunoassay and determining antifungal drug susceptibility among hospitalized patients with hematologic malignancies or candidates for organ transplantation.

The incidence of invasive aspergillosis (IA) has dramatically increased during the last decade. This infection is associated with high morbidity and mortality, ranging from 30% to 70%, especially in immunocompromised patients. Delay in diagnosis and treatment is usually associated with high mortality rates. This study was aimed to assess the diagnostic value of Galactomannan EIA (GM) for early diagnosis of aspergillosis in hospitalized patients with underlying conditions. Also, the antifungal drug susceptibility profiles of causative agents were investigated. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, during the period of 18 months starting from September 2017 until February 2019, 22 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and 13 biopsies from infected sinuses were obtained from a total of 150 patients suffering from different types of hematologic malignancies. All the samples were subjected to microscopic examination and fungal culture. Also, serum specimens were obtained from all patients (n = 135). 22 serum and 17 BAL specimens were tested for the GM level. Fungal identified were confirmed through the PCR-sequencing of the ß-tubulin gene. The susceptibility to amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, ravuconazole, and caspofungin was evaluated according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute document M38-A2 (CLSI M38-A2) broth microdilution protocol. The results showed that the incident rate of IA was 23.33% and 35 patients with IA (12 proven cases and 23 probable cases) were diagnosed according to the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and Mycoses Study Group criteria. The 35 patients with IA in the current study comprised 19 men (54.29%) and 16 women (45.71%) with the median age of 42 years. AML (31.5%) was documented as the most prevalent risk factor among our subjects with IA and Aspergillus flavus (65.7%) was the most prevailing causal agent in this study. Among patients with IA, ague (71%) and cough (60%) were the most common symptoms. In the present study, a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 98% was reported for GM ELISA in BAL specimens. Also, a sensitivity of 58% and a specificity of 98% was reported for GM ELISA in serum samples. Among 6 tested antifungal drugs, the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were observed for posaconazole and ravuconazole which showed the range of 0.008-0.0062 µgml and 0.031-0.125 µgml, respectively. The current study has demonstrated that determining the value of GM investigation in BAL and serum specimens can be promising in early diagnosis of IA, also molecular identification of the agents causing IA and their antifungal susceptibility patterns are essential issues for the targeted antifungal therapy and outcome improvement of patients with this life-threatening disease.

Actinomycosis in Iran: Short Narrative Review Article.

Actinomycosis is an indolent, slowly progressive infection caused by anaerobic or microaerophilic bacteria, primarily of genus Actinomyces, which colonize the mouth, colon and vagina. Mucosal disruption may lead to infection virtually at any sites in the body. The aim of this study was to underline different features of actinomycosis and to represent total data about etiologic agents, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches these infections. From a total of 38 case reports or series, ninety one cases were obtained by using of relevant articles reported as recorded cases in Iran (1972 to 2012). Analyzed data represented 21 cases of oral-servicofacial (23.1%), 7 cases of thoracic (7.7%), 17 cases of abdominal (18.7%), 21 cases of disseminated forms (23.1%) and 25 cases of others (27.5%). Findings indicated more common of these infections in men (61.5%). Actinomyces naeslundii (21 cases) was found as the most common causative agents in comparison with A. Israeli (15 cases), A. viscosus (3 cases) and A. bovis (1 case). The most patients had been successfully treated with penicillin although some cases needed surgery along with antibiotic therapy. Since some clinical features of actinomycosis are similar to malignancies, so the differential diagnosis of invasive forms must be considered. This report emphasizes on the importance of differential diagnosis of actinomycosis from similar diseases by clinicians.