10.
General principles of Laboratory
diagnosis of fungal diseases
Competency
MI1.1: Describe the different causative agents of Infectious diseases and the methods used in
their detection, and discuss the role of microbes in health and disease
Specific Learning Objectives: At the end the session, the students shall be able to,
Recognize the need for laboratory diagnosis of viral infections
Enumerate major fungal pathogens and the infections/diseases caused by them
Identify major fungal pathogens based on the morphology (yeast, molds etc.)
Discuss general steps involved in the diagnosis of fungal infections
Enumerate the common fungal culture media
Enlist common tests/methods for fungal identification.
Compare and contrast the laboratory methods used in the diagnosis of fungal
infections with bacterial infections
Exercise 10:
1) Explain the need for laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections
To detect the infection causing fungi at the earliest to treat the patients with life
threatening infections.
To help the clinicians to isolate and identify the causative agent so that appropriate
specimen must be collected prior to starting any anti-fungal therapy.
2) Enumerate major fungal pathogens and the infections/diseases caused by them
Fungi Infection/Disease caused Fungi Infection/Disease caused
Aspergillus Aspergillosis Rhino Rhinosporidiosis
sporidium
seeberi
Candida Candidiasis Sporothrix Sporotrichosis
Dermatophytes Skin, hair, nail infections Mucor Opportunistic fungal
infections(Mucormycosis)
Coccidioides Superficial or cutaneous Histoplasma Systemic fungal infection
immitis infections in healthy capsulatum
individuals
3) Draw colored labeled diagrams of major morphological classes of fungi
Yeast Yeast like
Molds Dimorphic
4) Write the common fungal culture media and their uses
Culture media Uses
Sabouraud dextrose agar The growth and maintenance of pathogenic
fungi from clinical specimens
Bird seed agar Isolation of cryptococcus neoformans
Corn meal agar Demonstration of Chlamydospores by
candida species
Dermatophyte Identification Medium Dermatophytes speciation
5) Write the common fungal identification tests/methods and their uses
Identification tests/methods Uses
Fermentation test To determine the carbohydrate production
from yeast.
Assimilation test Determines the ability of a yeast isolate
Slide culture Demonstration of exact morphology of
fungus
Antigen detection test Latex agglutination for cryptococcal capsular
antigen. E.g. candida and aspergillus
6) Draw a labeled diagram of the microscopic appearance of a dermatophyte in KOH
mount.
7) Draw a labeled diagram of the microscopic appearance of a mold in LPCB mount.
8) Write the differences between laboratory methods used for the diagnosis of fungal
infections and bacterial infections
Fungal diagnostic methods Bacterial diagnostic methods
KOH Gram and ZN staining
Germ tube, Assimilation and Biochemical tests
fermentation techniques
Slide culture Solid medium for culture
Teasing from the growth Molecular methods
Assessment
[Link]. Student’s performance Score#
1 Comes prepared with requisite prior knowledge 1 2 3
2 Participates actively and contributes to discussion during SGT 1 2 3
3 Shows professional conduct during the Teaching Learning 1 2 3
session
4 Completes the record book activities in time 1 2 3
5 Shows evidence of learning the new skills 1 2 3
(Intellectual/Psychomotor)
Total score /15
(Can be reduced to 5 for convenience)
Faculty Remarks/Feedback:
Date : Faculty Name & Signature
# Mark as 1, 2, 3 for ‘Not satisfactory’, ‘satisfactory’ & ‘Very Good’ respectively