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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fungal nail infection (onychomycosis) involves 18%-40% of all nail disorders, which, although not fatal, can cause mechanical, aesthetic, occupational, and economic problems. Drug treatments due to prolonged treatment periods, drug interactions, adverse effects, and slow progression may associate with numerous negative outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd: YAG laser effect on fungal colonies and subsequently possible change in the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of common antifungals compared with the same non-lasered colonies as a novel way to investigate laser and antifungal interaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptococcal meningitis (CM) is an uncommon and severe infection that tends to affect both immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts. To gain insights into the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of CM in Iran, this study evaluated patients with subacute or chronic meningitis referred to 15 Iranian hospitals. Relevant clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the patients were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe growing demand for high food quality has been encouraging researchers in the food industry to apply biodegradable nanocomposites, which provide new opportunities and challenges for the advance of nanomaterials in the food industry. The objective of this study was to estimate the antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity effects of zinc oxide nanocomposite/zeolite (c/Zeo) with gel (AG) and its effect on the shelf life of chicken meat. The ZnONPs/Zeo was assessed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study aimed to estimate the disease burden and describe the clinical presentation, risk factors, and outcome of CAM in a single centre in Iran.
Methods: A case of mucormycosis was defined as one that had clinical and radiological features consistent with mucormycosis along with demonstration of the fungus in tissue KOH mount/culture/histopathological and molecular examination.
Results: We report 30 cases of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM).
Background And Purpose: Candidemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy and those hospitalized with serious underlying diseases. Here, we investigated the epidemiological, clinical, and mycological features of candidemia in Tehran, Iran.
Materials And Methods: A prospective observational study of all patients diagnosed with candidemia was performed at two referral teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran, from February to December 2018.
Introduction: This study was intended to investigate the clinical features and predisposing factors of fungal keratitis (FK), as well as molecular identification and antifungal susceptibility of causative agents in Tehran, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from April 2019 to May 2021. All fungi isolates were identified using conventional methods and were confirmed by DNA-PCR-based molecular assays.
Purpose: Bacterial or virus co-infections with SARS-CoV-2 have been reported in many studies; however, the knowledge on Aspergillus co-infection among patients with COVID-19 was limited. This study was conducted to identify and isolate fungal agents and to evaluate the prevalence of pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) as well as antifungal susceptibility patterns of Aspergillus species in patients with COVID-19 admitted to Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran.
Methods: The study involved 119 patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia referred to the Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran.
At a time when the COVID-19's second wave is still picking up in countries like India, a number of reports describe the potential association with a rise in the number of cases of mucormycosis, commonly known as the black fungus. This fungal infection has been around for centuries and affects those people whose immunity has been compromised due to severe health conditions. In this article, we provide a detailed overview of mucormycosis and discuss how COVID-19 could have caused a sudden spike in an otherwise rare disease in countries like India.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: a species are normal vaginal flora in healthy women, which can cause vulvovaginal candid-iasis (VVC). The formation of biofilm is a cause of drug resistance in species of vaginal origin. We aimed to specify species cause VVC, detect their biofilm-forming ability, and antifungal susceptibility pattern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Onychomycosis is caused by dermatophyte species, non-dermatophyte moulds (NDMs), and accounts for roughly 50% of all nail diseases. As the prevalence of onychomycosis is increasing, new epidemiologic documents may help with treatment and prevention. The present investigation aims to determine the epidemiological profile of onychomycosis in 2 mycology laboratories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: The pandemic of COVID-19 has caused a worldwide health crisis. Candidemia is a potentially lethal condition that has not yet been enough discussed in patients with COVID-19. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of candidemia among Iranian COVID-19 patients and characterize its causative agents and the antifungal susceptibility pattern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCerebral mucormycosis (CM) is a life-threatening manifestation of mucormycosis, an angioinvasive fungal infection caused by Mucorales. We sought to systematically review all available case reports to describe epidemiologic features, clinical manifestations, predisposing factors, and diagnostic and treatment strategies of CM. A systematic search was conducted using a combination of the following keywords: "Mucor", "Zygomycetes", "mucormycosis", "cereb*", "brain", "central nervous system", and "intracranial", separately and in combination until December 31 2018.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is attributable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been causing a worldwide health issue. Airways colonization by Candida spp. is prevalent among patients on automatic ventilation in intensive care units (ICUs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackgrounds: The pandemic of COVID-19 has created a global public health crisis. ICU patients with COVID-19 are prone to infections of bacterial and/or fungal origins due to several risk factors. Consequently, the current study was conducted to evaluate the frequency, demographic characteristics, underlying conditions, and etiologic agents of fungal and bacterial co-infections of the respiratory tract among ICU patients with COVID-19 in Iran.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tracheoesophageal voice prostheses (TVPs) have been the gold standard in rehabilitation, after laryngectomy, producing faster and premier voicing towards esophageal speech. Fungal colonization shortens the device's lifetime and leads to prosthesis dysfunction, leakage, and subsequent respiratory infection. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to investigate the fungal colonization patterns and to propose prophylactic measures that shall increase the longevity of voice prosthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to determine whether photodynamic therapy of resistant onychomycosis with Ag@ZnO nanoparticles can promote the treatment procedure and extirpates the recurrence of fungal infection. Ag@ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) under UVB-radiation were applied to treat and through photodynamic therapy. therapeutic efficacy, biocompatibility and biodistribution of Ag@ZnO NPs were studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a significant clinical challenge in healthcare settings all over the world. Critically ill COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome may be at increased risk of co-infection with pulmonary aspergillosis. This study aimed to describe a clinical case of proven pulmonary aspergillosis caused by in a 59-year-old man with a history of hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Dermatophytosis induced by is a major human and animal fungal contamination. Antifungals like terbinafine and fluconazole are widely used to treat dermatophytosis; nevertheless, the prevalence of drug resistance has increased. Hence, novel curative strategies are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeoscytalidium dimidiatum is a rare dematiaceous fungus that was first described in 1916 as Dothiorella mangiferae. From the standpoint of epidemiology and therapy, early detection of fungal rhinosinusitis (FRS), the causative agents, and their associated risk factors can improve the therapeutic outcome and decrease the mortality rates among patients. In this study, we report a 34-year-old Iranian female patient with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), who presented to our facility with an 8-year history of chronic fungal sinusitis, drug-resistant asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, post-nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, nasal polyposis, and anemia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOtomycosis is a fungal infection of the external auditory canal caused mainly by the genus , an industrially important fungus, is a member of section . In this report, we present a case of otomycosis due to in a 43-year-old female patient. We performed a partial PCR-sequencing of β-tubulin and calmodulin genes to identify the isolate to the species level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pseudallescheria keratitis is rare but important type of fungal keratitis because of the inherently resistance of the organism to many existing antifungal agents.
Methods: Slit-lamp and confocal microscopy were used for clinical examinations. Fungal isolates were identified based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequence of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS).