Fungal Snowman

Beautiful petri plate snowman by Michelle Travis, UK


Original image:
Getting into to the Christmas spirit in York, UK

 Source: Facebook via Michelle Travis


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Candida auris - New superbug in US

Just five months after federal health officials asked hospitals and physicians to be on the lookout for an often-fatal, antibiotic-resistant fungus called Candida auris, 13 cases have been reported, the CDC announced 4 November, 2016.

It is the first time that the fungus, which is easily misidentified in lab tests as a more common candida yeast infection, has been found in the USA, and four of the first seven patients with it have died.

Candida auris’s emergence and apparent global spread, it was first identified in Japan in 2009 and since then has been found in a dozen countries on four continents, put the pathogen on the ever-growing list of superbugs, disease-causing microbes that are resistant to many and, in some cases, all antibiotics.

C. auris is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods and can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. CDC encourages all U.S. laboratory staff who identify C. auris strains to notify their state or local public health authorities and CDC at candidaauris@cdc.gov. Find answers to frequently asked questions about C. auris on our questions and answers page and in the Candida auris: Interim Recommendations.

Read more:
Health officials find first cases of new superbug in USMore information:
Candida auris | Fungal Diseases | CDC

Source: CDC

Deadly fungal infections acquire drug resistance

Scientists have warned that potentially deadly fungal infections are acquiring resistance to many of the medicines currently used to combat them. More than a million people die of fungal infections every year,including about 7,000 in the UK, and deaths are likely to increase as resistance continues to rise.

Researchers say the widespread use of fungicides on crops is one of the main causes of the rise in fungal resistance, which mirrors the rise of resistance to antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections in humans.

Read more:
Millions at risk as deadly fungal infections acquire drug resistance 

Source: The Guardian
Image: Rob Forman

T2Candida Panel - A Blood Scan for Sepsis Without Culture

The T2Candida panel and the T2Dx Instrument are for the direct detection of Candida species in human whole blood specimens from patients with symptoms of invasive fungal infections or with conditions that predispose them to such infections.

The T2Candida panel detects Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata, and Candida krusei. The FDA said that the panel is the first direct blood test for detecting the five yeast pathogens.

According to the agency, traditional methods of detecting yeast pathogens in the bloodstream can take up to six days and identifying the specific type of yeast present in the bloodstream may take even longer. By comparison, the T2Candida panel and T2Dx Instrument can identify the five common yeast pathogens from a single blood specimen within three to five hours.

"By testing one blood sample for five yeast pathogens — and getting results within a few hours — physicians can initiate appropriate anti-fungal treatment earlier, and potentially reduce patient illness and decrease the risk of dying from these infections,"

Read more
FDA Clears T2 Bio Test, System for Identification of Yeast Pathogens'

T2Biosystems web page 

Source: Genome web

New anti-inflammatory agents can control inflammatory responses to fungal infection

The most frequent fungal threat to humans, Candida albicans, is a common cause oral and genital infection. The fungal infections are often worsened by overwhelming inflammatory responses in the body and cause high mortality among risk groups. Umeå University doctoral student Ava Hosseinzadeh has discovered two novel anti-inflammatory agents, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory molecule, which could be used to control the hyper-inflammatory responses to the fungal infection.

Read more:
New anti-inflammatory agents can control inflammatory responses to fungal infection

Source: Eurek Alert

Penicillium claviforme on a petri plate

This is a very interesting species that is different than most Penicillium species. The asexual structures come together and form a huge (by fungal standards) match-stick like structure on which spores are borne. Shown here is a look at what these match-sticks look like on a Petri plate.


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Penicillium claviforme

Source: Flickr
Image credits: xerantheum

Rapid Tests for Fungal Infections

Fungal infections prey on weak immune systems, making them widely known as opportunistic infections. People may be born with a weak immune system, have an illness that attacks the immune system such as HIV/AIDS or be on a medication that lowers the body's ability to fight infections.The demand for fast, easy-to-use and sensitive diagnostic tests for fungal infections is on the rise. Labs desperately need accelerated detection solutions to isolate and identify fungi quickly.

Read more: 
Rapid Tests for Fungal Infections

 Source: Advance

Malassezia Yeast Infections

Malassezia yeasts have been found in human dandruff, deep-sea vents, and pretty much everywhere in between. The skin of most if not all warm-blooded animals is covered with these microbes, and while they mostly live in peaceful co-existence with their hosts, they can cause serious diseases in humans and animals. While treatments exist for most of these, when treating Malassezia skin diseases, one should always bear in mind that Malassezia yeasts are integral components of the skin microbiota, and therefore the therapeutic target should be controlling the Malassezia population rather than eradicating it.
Read more:
Malassezia Yeast Infections in Humans and Animals

 Source: MicrobiologyBytes

Fungal Snowman

Hat, Eyes, Mouth, Buttons: Aspergillus niger; Arms: Aspergillus nidulans; Nose: Aspergillus terreus with Penicillium marneffei; Body: Neosartorya fischeri.

Read more:
Fungal Snowman 

Source: JCVI Blog

Fungal Christmas Tree

The most beautiful Christmas tree

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Fungal Christmas Tree

Source: JCVI Blog

Fungal Colonies

A variation of fungal colonies


Original image:
10626773_314579088713554_2685046626368644026_n.jpg

Source: Medical Microbiologist

Bunny on a Petri Plate

Cute mold bunny <3

Source: Twitter
Image credits: Erica Leyder

Fungal Art

Beautiful fungal colonies

View more:
 Elinart

Source: Etsy
Image credits: elinart

Fungal Snowman

Amazing piece of microbe art

Source: facebook
Image credits: Nicole Sams-Kwiatkowski

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Attacking Fungal Infection

Fungal infections take more than 1.3 million lives each year worldwide, nearly as many as tuberculosis. Perlin has made it his mission to reduce the death toll and severe disability that fungi can cause.

“More than a million people around the world are blind because of fungal infections of the eye,” Perlin points out, “and half of the world’s 350,000 asthma-related deaths each year stem from fungal infection that could be treated effectively with drugs.” 

Read more:
Attacking Fungal Infection, One of the World's Major Killers 

Source: Rutgers today
Image credits: Rob Forman

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Fungal Winter at Medical Laboratory

Season´s greetings for all medical laboratory professionals and students


Original images:
JCVI Blog

Source:JCVI
Image credits: Stephanie Mounaud 

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Another boring day in the microbiology lab

I love microbiology

Source: Reddit
Image credits: Sunmann

Art and Science of Laboratory Medicine

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Diagnostic Test Rapidly Detects Candida

A nano-inspired platform has been developed that detects DNA from five of the most common Candida species found in patient blood. The diagnostic platform based on T2 magnetic resonance, which is capable of sensitive and rapid detection of fungal targets in whole blood in approximately three hours, or up to 25 times faster than the current gold standard of blood culture.

Read more:
Diagnostic Test Rapidly Detects Candida

Source: Medlab Magazine

Art and Science of Laboratory Medicine

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Scientists building the world's first synthetic yeast

A UK team is building a synthetic chromosome to be inserted into the world's first synthetic yeast.

Teams worldwide are making the other parts of its genome which will be assembled to make the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Synthetic biology involves assembling artificial genes to create new materials in a similar way that engineers build machines using many parts. Some even think it can form the basis of a new industrial revolution

Read more:
Scientists building the world's first synthetic yeast

Source: BBC News

Art and Science of Laboratory Medicine

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A Happy Candida Colony

Candida albicans on an Inhibitory Mold Agar plate.

Read more:
Putting the "fun" in fungal cultures

Source: Microbeworld


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