?The fungal jungle?

The World Wide Web offers an enormous variety of information about medical mycology. To go through the "fungal jungle" and find the website containing the information that is needed requires a great deal of effort and a lot of time. This article provides help in finding information about medical mycology and describes the contents of preselected websites in German and English. These pages address physicians, scientists, and students interested in dermato-mycology. Most of the pages also contain information about mycoses relevant to other medical specialties.

Degradation of keratin substrates by fungi isolated from sewage sludge

Four fungal species including two dermatophytes and two saprophytes were isolated from sewage sludge samples at Basrah (Iraq) they were tested for their degradative ability towards three types of keratin substrates (human hair, chicken feathers and wool). The rate of keratin degradation was expressed as weight loss over three weeks of incubation using a liquid culture medium. Human hair had the highest degradation rate by colonization of Chrysosporium pannicola and Microsporum gypseum at a rate of 62% and 48% respectively. Chicken feathers were highly degraded by Aspergillus flavus (32%) while wool degradation was highest by C. pannicola (45.5%) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. erinacei (38%). There was a significant difference (p < 0.001) in keratin substrate degradation rates by the examined fungi. Keratinase activity was highest for C. pannicola and M. gypseum in the culture medium baited with human hair. Aspergillus flavus revealed the highest activity of this enzyme in cultures amended with chicken feathers while T mentagrophytes var. erinacei showed highest keratinase activity in cultures with wool substrate. The amount of protein released into the culture medium varied among the tested fungi. The medium's alkalinity increased over incubation time from 6.5 to 7.8. Microscopic examination showed maceration of the keratin substrates by the fungi.

Keratinolytic activity of five human isolates of the dermatophytes

The keratinolytic activity of five species of the dermatophytes which include Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans, Microsporum audouinii and M. gypseum isolated from school children were tested using human hair as the substrate. M. gypseum was found to possess the highest keratinolytic activity with a net value of released protein being 78.8 ug/ml after five weeks of incubation. Also the net value of released protein for T. tonsurans, T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and M. audouinii were 55.5 ug/ml, 52.5 ug/ml, 43.8 ug/ml and 26.3 ug/\ml respectively. Only T. mentagrophytes and M. gypseum were able to cause structural damage in form of perforations on the hair shaft. Also during the degradation of the hair, the pH of the basal medium for each dermatophyte increased. The increase in pH was highest in the medium with M. gypseum but lowest in that of M. audouinii.

Problems of microbial zoonoses in Hungary. (A review)

Hungarian data of 36 zoonotic diseases are summarized. These illnesses cause problems not only for health, public health and veterinary health services but for the society and their importance has increased. Changing character of an old pathogen (Salmonella enteritidis PT4) resulted in new epidemiological situation. The number of cases of food-borne zoonotic diseases has rapidly grown. The number of pets has elevated and in consequence the possibility of an infection of owners, breaders, sellers and other persons has also grown. Growing number of HIV positive patients as well as ill persons treated with immunosuppressive drugs increases the importance of opportunistic zoonotic pathogens (Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma). The most effective and less expensive way to prevent an exposed population is the active immunization (BCG, tetanus, tick-borne encephalitis). Active immunization of animals can also reduce probability of human infections and economic losses (leptospirosis, rabies). In special cases it is advised to perform eradication programmes to get pathogenic-free domestic animals (brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis). Permanent surveillance is obligatory to recognize changing nature of pathogens, alteration of epidemiological situation and to identify areas for further research. Continuous education of population in general and special teaching of risky groups are very important for an effective prevention.