Heterogeneity of oral isolates of Candida albicans in HIV-positive patients: correlation between candidal carriage, karyotype and disease stage.

Opportunist infections involving Candida albicans often develop in HIV-positive patients and oral lesions tend to become more frequent as the disease progresses. Previous studies have shown contrasting results concerning the variability of the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtypes of C. albicans observed in HIV-positive patients.

Onychomycosis in Rome, Italy.

This report presents the results of a study conducted between 1985 and 1994 on onychomycosis observed in the city of Rome. Six thousand six hundred and eighty eight patients were examined during this period. Among them 1,762 (26.

Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of an African Blastomyces dermatitidis strain.

This report describes the macro- and microscopic characteristics of a strain of Blastomyces dermatitidis isolated in an Italian hospital from a Libyan patient suffering from cutaneous blastomycosis. The fungus was isolated with great difficulty because of the presence of a Proteus species on the lesion. Conversion of the mycelial into the yeast-like phase achieved the best results, using Columbia ANC culture medium.

Epidemiology of dermatophytoses observed in Rome, Italy, between 1985 and 1993.

Between 1985 and 1993, 13,880 patients were studied for possible forms of dermatophytoses. The most frequently isolated dermatophyte was in 2821 positive cases Microsporum canis (50%), followed by Trichophyton rubrum (27%), Trichophyton mentagrophytes (10.6%), Epidermophyton floccosum (9.

Keratinophilic fungi in the antarctic environment.

Results of a study on the diffusion of keratinophilic fungi in an Antarctic environment are given. Nine soil samples collected from as many sites along the coast of Ross Sea, and six dust samples inside the Italian scientific base were examined by direct inoculation and hair baiting methods for soil samples and plate dilution method for dust samples. As regards the variety of species isolated and the counting of the numbers of colonies, plate dilution method proved to be very effective.