Suchergebnisse

The African Mycological Association (AMA) promotes mycology amongst members in Africa and globally. The AMA has about 200 members, mostly from African states but also with strong representation from Europe and USA, amongst others. Recent efforts by members of the AMA focused on reviving and developing mycological research and networking in Africa. A great deal must, however, still be done to promote the AMA under African mycologists, and those elsewhere with interests in Africa. African mycologists also experience challenges typical of the developing world and a great deal of fungi still needs to be discovered. This can also be seen as representing great opportunities for research and collaboration. Several issues pertinent to mycology in Africa were discussed during Special Interest Group sessions of the 9th International Mycological Congress in 2010, and through several opinion pieces contributed by AMA members in the AMA newsletter, MycoAfrica. This contribution serves as a document to summarise these in a form that can be presented to fellow mycologists, biologists and other scientists, relevant government departments, funding bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations and that pins down the importance of mycology, the status thereof in Africa and the need to promote it more.

The authors report a series of 49 cases of oral candidiasis including 20 symptomatic, listed on 100 immunocompromised patients collected at the Mohammed V Military Hospital in Rabat over a 12-month period. The objective of this work was to define the risk factors that lay the foundation for fungal proliferation in the mouth, through early detection in asymptomatic or non-asymptomatic patients. Mycological analysis in the laboratory was based on direct examination and culture on Sabouraud chloramphenicol medium with and without cycloheximide, then identification of the fungal species by API 20 C AUX galleries and the VITEK 2 compact® . The prevalence of oral candidiasis was 49%. The mean age of the patients was 54 years with a sex ratio M / F of 1.04. The contributing factors identified were hyposialia (p = 0.0337), corticosteroid therapy (p = 0.025 and dental removable prostheses (p = 0.000791). The fungal species identified were Candida albicans (79%), Candida dubliniensis (7%), Candida ciferrii (4%), Candida famata (4%), Candida glabrata (4%) and Candida lusitaniae (2%). Conclusion: The oral localization of candidiasis remains very frequent in immunocompromised subjects. Their treatment involves first of all the search for contributing factors and early detection in the presence of asymptomatic forms that only mycological analysis can identify the variety.

Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are a worldwide public health threat that remains frequent, especially in countries where hygienic conditions are precarious. The Covid-19 pandemic that the world is experiencing since March 2020 was associated with the establishment of a set of hygienic measures. The aim of this study is to highlight a possible impact of those measures on the prevalence of IPIs by evaluating the results of stool specimens examinations for patients of the Avicenna military hospital in Marrakech for a period extended from 2017 to 2022. The overall prevalence of IPIs was found to be 32%. The prevalence of protozoa infections was much higher than the prevalence of helminthic infections (95% vs. 5%). Amongst the protozoa, blastocystis hominis (BH) was the most common parasite. Our study showed a fall in the overall prevalence of IPIs starting from 2020 and a consequent drop in the prevalence of the most incriminated protozoa in parasitic diarrheas: entamoeba histolytica histolytica and giardia intestinalis. Those findings show the effectiveness of the hygiene measures, implemented during covid-19 pandemic, on the carriage of these parasites. The replacement of Entamoeba histolytica histolytica by blastocystis hominis in terms of pathogenicity could be explained by the reactivation of the carriage of BH due to the imbalance of the intestinal flora caused by the use of alcohol and bleach for sanitization. Therefore the present study highlights the positive impact of hygienic measures, carried out during covid-19 pandemic, on the prevalence of IPIs and leads us to emphasize the need to pursue those measures even outside the pandemic.

Combat trauma wounds with invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are often polymicrobial with fungal and bacterial growth, but the impact of the wound microbiology on clinical outcomes is uncertain. Our objectives were to compare the microbiological features between IFI and non-IFI wounds and evaluate whether clinical outcomes differed among IFI wounds based upon mold type. Data from U.S. military personnel injured in Afghanistan with IFI wounds were examined. Controls were matched by the pattern/severity of injury, including blood transfusion requirements. Wound closure timing was compared between IFI and non-IFI control wounds (with/without bacterial infections). IFI wound closure was also assessed according to mold species isolation. Eighty-two IFI wounds and 136 non-IFI wounds (63 with skin and soft tissue infections [SSTIs] and 73 without) were examined. The time to wound closure was longer for the IFI wounds (median, 16 days) than for the non-IFI controls with/without SSTIs (medians, 12 and 9 days, respectively; P < 0.001). The growth of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative rods was reported among 35% and 41% of the IFI and non-IFI wounds with SSTIs, respectively. Among the IFI wounds, times to wound closure were significantly longer for wounds with Mucorales growth than for wounds with non-Mucorales growth (median, 17 days versus 13 days; P < 0.01). When wounds with Mucorales and Aspergillus spp. growth were compared, there was no significant difference in wound closure timing. Trauma wounds with SSTIs were often polymicrobial, yet the presence of invasive molds (predominant types: order Mucorales, Aspergillus spp., and Fusarium spp.) significantly prolonged the time to wound closure. Overall, the times to wound closure were longest for the IFI wounds with Mucorales growth.

Coccidioidomycosis is a common fungal infection acquired in the southwestern United States. This is the first study in over 2 decades to determine the seroincidence of Coccidioides immitis infections among U.S. military members performing training exercises in an area of endemicity. Only 8% of participants were aware of coccidioidomycosis, despite the majority having visited or lived previously in an area of endemicity. One (0.6%) of the 178 participants developed "definite" serologic evidence of infection over a 5-week training period; four (2.3%) additional patients developed "possible" coccidioidomycosis infections. None had complicated disease. The calculated annual incidence ranged from 6 to 32%. This study suggests that the risk of serious coccidioidomycosis is low among military personnel during desert training exercises; however, disease incidence may vary depending on specific activities and geographic factors. Due to the potential morbidity and mortality of this infection, preventative strategies, including vaccine development, are advocated.

ObjectivesTo assess diagnostic mycology capacity and available fungal diagnostic services of microbiology laboratories in eight tertiary hospitals in Nigeria and one in Ghana.MethodsOn-site audits were performed in the microbiology laboratories of nine tertiary hospitals using a structured observation checklist.ResultsA total of nine tertiary hospitals' laboratories in Nigeria and Ghana were assessed between June 2022 and December 2023. The majority of audited laboratories lacked basic infrastructure and materials needed for fungal diagnostic testing, with less than half of the labs having a dedicated mycology bench, space or room, 3/9 (33.3%), appropriate bench workflow 1/9 (11.1%), functional biosafety cabinet type two 2/9 (22.2%), dedicated incubators 3/9 (33.3%), standard operating procedures 1/9 (11.1%), mycology atlases 2/9 (22.2%). Trained laboratory personnel for mycology were also lacking with only one of the laboratories 1/9 (11.1%) observed to have a designated trained personnel for the mycology bench.ConclusionThe audit revealed deficits in basic infrastructure, material resources, dedicated human resources, and laboratory capacity to detect serious fungal infections.

This dissertation looks at do-it-yourself (DIY) mycology with an ethnographic focus on the Fungal Alliance of the Bay (FAB), in the SF Bay Area, and addition field work with the Pacific Northwest Mycelial Collective (PNMC) (both pseudonyms). DIY mycology is an amateur technoscientific practice that builds on the home cultivation of mushrooms. It emerges out of North American ecology movement and draws on the long tradition of amateur mycology as well as innovations in the psychedelic underground. This form of engagement with fungi necessitates minimal fluency with modern lab techniques, basic knowledge of microbiology, and familiarity with fungal taxonomy and genetics. Teachers and authors are self-taught, their knowledge disseminated through books in the 1970s and 1980s and online media since the 1990s. DIY mycologists speak about the "wisdom" of fungi and promote the idea of an "alliance" with the fungal kingdom. Considering its animistic and often spiritualized language, alongside their scientific practices, DIY mycology raises questions about how modern science is practiced today among non-experts. My dissertation asks: How are science and technology constituted, or reformulated, and how are fungi enacted, among DIY mycologists? More broadly, does modern scientific practice outside of normative institutions produce different kinds of knowledge (Strasser, et al, 2018)? Drawing on recent anthropological inquiries into the nature of ontology (Descola, 2005; Mol, 2002) and the role of nonhuman life in the creation of meaning and value (Paxson, 2012; Tsing, 2015), to explore this question. Reflecting the historical entanglement of ecological movements, radical politics, and psychedelia, DIY mycologists share ecological values and lifestyles and critical views of industrial capitalism. One overarching trait is what I refer to as "alter-ecology": discourses and practices that extrapolate logics from scientific ecology to other domains as a resource of imagining the future. DIY mycology coopts technoscientific practices to build capacity but forgoes the conventions of normative science, especially the affective and discursive norms of mechanistic naturalism. Rather, they act within a post-humanist frame: they encounter and work with fungi, in both instrumental and intersubjective modes. Participants acknowledge and celebrate this mutuality and co-constitution and valorize the traits and capacities of fungi. In the process, science is coopted, shrunk, mobilized, and vernacularized, reflecting contemporary movements and trends toward citizen science and dispersed de-institutionalized science (Kelty, 2008; Strasser, et al, 2018; Delfanti, 2013, 2017). Overall, this vernacularization of scientific practice allows for the possibility and growth of syncretic forms of post-humanist amateur science, or what I call undisciplined science.

Work in the May Lab is supported by project MitoFun, funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 614562 and by a Wolfson Research Merit Award from the Royal Society (to RCM). GDB is supported by the Wellcome Trust (102705), Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377) and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1). JL is supported by a start-up fund from the University of Stirling. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

Australia's biota, including fungi, is highly diverse and highly endemic with many species also highly at risk of extinction. Despite ratifying international conventions and the development of national biodiversity conservation strategies, little has changed in the conservation status of Australian fungi over the last decade. Fungi remain largely neglected in most conservation legislation, notwithstanding their importance to ecosystem functioning and consequently to humanity, and there are very few mycologists employed in reference collections or conservation agencies. Few fungi have been included on formal threat status lists and a coordinated national approach toward compiling a threat status list for fungi is urgently required. Given the anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity including climate change, increases in wildfire and subsequent habitat destruction, there is a pressing need for recognition and incorporation of fungi in management and conservation initiatives. Community groups are making an increasingly significant contribution to fungal conservation, especially through mapping and monitoring, but their efforts need greater support from government. There remains a need for a coherent national strategy for the conservation of Australian fungi.

Prologue -- Introduction -- 1)Setting the scene -- Biodiversity and cultivation -- 2)Edible ectomycorrhizal fungi and their cultivation in china -- 3)Climate change, biotechnology and mexican neotropical edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms -- 4)Diversity and importance of edible ectomycorrhizal fungi in guatemala -- 5)Advances in the cultivation of Lactarius deliciosus (saffron milk cap) in new zealand -- 6)Edible mushrooms and their cultural importance in yunnan, china -- 7)Advances in desert truffle mycorrhization and cultivation -- case studies -- 8)Diversity, biogeographic distribution, ecology and ectomycorrhizal relationships of the edible porcini mushrooms (Boletus s. str., Boletaceae) worldwide: state of the art and an annotated check-list -- 9)Recent insights in the phylogeny, species diversity and culinary uses of milkcap genera Lactarius and Lactifluus -- 10)Advances in the cultivation of truffles in canada -- 11)Diversity and ecology of edible mushrooms from patagonia native forests, argentina -- 12)Truffle cultivation in the south of france: socio-economic characteristics -- 13)Ethnomycology in europe: the past, the present, and the future -- ecology with emphasis on wild edible fungi -- 14)Interactions between soil mesofauna and edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms -- 15)Diversity and importance of edible mushrooms in ectomycorrhizal communities on mexican neotropics -- 16)A checklist of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms associated to Quercus humboldtii in colombia -- 17)Modifications of community structure in ectomycorrhizal artic fungi as a consequence of global warming.