What is it about?
The rise in the number of mucormycosis cases in uncontrolled diabetics in India is alarming and the patients usually present with rhino-orbito-cerebral tissue involvement. We aimed to evaluate a PCR-based technique for the diagnosis of mucormycosis and the identification of fungi from fresh tissue specimens in patients with rhino-orbito-cerebral-mucormycosis (ROCM).
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Why is it important?
Few studies have attempted the molecular identification of fungal causative agents in fresh and formalinized tissue specimens. The sensitivity of detection in formalinized tissue is generally lower, due to denaturation of the DNA. The present study was conducted to evaluate a PCR based technique for the diagnosis of mucormycosis and the identification of fungi in fresh tissue specimens in a large number of patients.
Perspectives
The molecular technique was able to identify Mucorales species in 26 (42 %) cases that were negative by culture. Mucorales-specific semi-nested PCR targeting the 18S region is a better technique than ITS2 PCR for diagnosis. PCR-RFLP of the 18S region helps in identification to genus level.
Dr Kamran Zaman
National Institute of Virology, Pune
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Molecular diagnosis of rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis from fresh tissue samples, Journal of Medical Microbiology, August 2017, Society for General Microbiology,
DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.000560.
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