UNIVERSITY OF KERBALA

COLLEGE OF MEDECINE

M.SC. MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY

ISOLATION OF FUNJI FROM THE HAIRE

GROUP 2

SUPERVISORE : Dr.ali Aljinabi

REPORTED BY: Zainab Raheam
INTRODUCTIO
Dermatophytes are aerobic fungi that can invade and infect keratinized layers of
the skin, hair, and nails, mediated by both keratinases and proteases. Originally
thought to derive from parasites transmitted from cats or dogs, infection was
referred to as tinea (from the Latin word for worm), followed by a modifying term
(e.g., capitis) that described the affected body site (1). Dermatophytes produce a
variety of proteolytic enzymes, which work in acid, alkali or neutral
environments(2). Although specific organisms usually cause dermatophyte
infections in particular parts of the body, dermatophyte diseases are usually
classified according to site of infection. Included in this group are Tinea barbae
(beard), Tinea capitis (scalp and hair), Tinea corporis (nonhairy skin), Tinea cruris
(groin), Tinea manuum (hand), Tinea pedis (feet), and Tinea unguium (nails, also
called onchomyosis)(3).
Tinea capitis(TC) is a disease caused by superficial fungal infection of the skin of
the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes, with a propensity for attacking hair shafts and
follicles. The disease is deliberated to be a form of superficial mycosis or
dermatophytosis. Numerous synonyms are used, comprising ringworm of the scalp
and tinea tonsurans. The incidence of tinea capitis is increasing all over the world
(4)TC is a common infection of the scalp hair caused by dermatophyte fungi and
occurring predominantly in children (5).TheŽrest major breakthrough in the
effective treatment of TC came in 1958 when Gentles (6) Treatment for TC relies
on the use of terbinafine, itraconazole, griseofulvin and fluconazole (1, 7).
Dermatophyte test medium was developed by Taplin as a selective and differential
medium for detection and identification of dermatophytes. The growth of
dermatophytes on this media may be presumptively identified based on gross
morphology and the production of alkaline metabolites, which raise the pH and
cause the phenol red indicator to change the color of the medium from yellow to
pink-red(8).
Direct microscopy has a limitation that it only detects the presence or absence of
fungal element but cannot help in the differentiation of the different species. Even
after successful isolation of the dermatophytes from the clinical specimen,
identification is difficult due to morphological similarities shared between species
necessitating molecular techniques (9).
MATERIALS:
1. forceps.
2. loop.
3. Petri dish .
4. burner .
5. SDA agar.

METHODSE:

1. select a few number of hairs from the head with two to three centimeter.
2. put the hair in the (SDA) agar, and try to emerged the hair inside the medium.
3. Incubate the media at 30C for 48hour.
4. Record the growing colony around the hair with the characters (color,
number).
5. Make a slid for growing colony and determine the shape of the hyphae and
spore.
RESULTE:
After 48 hour of incubation, the Petri dish show a growth of fungus around the hair
the growth was heavy, and distributed with pale yellow color, the colony was
difficult to count. figur (1)

figur(1)
in wet mount preparation with( koh ), we saw variety of spores that some of its
were germinate and some of sepetate long hyphae , the feild was pale green in
color , the spores have thick wall .figur(2)

figure(2)
DISCUSION

Tinea capitis is a common and significant dermatophyte infection seen commonly

in prepubertal children, and severely in adults.The clinical presentation is quite
different ranging from the non-inflammatory lesions to the severe inflammatory
variants, The non-inflammatory variants contain gray patch and black dot whilc the
inflammatory lesions contain kerion and favus, which if not quickly treated may
exit in cicatricial alopecia(10). In my diagnosis The Petri dish was characterized by a
yellow-colored growth of the fungus, while the color of the sample under the
microscope was green and the hyphae were long, elongated and separated. the
sample was of a healthy and non infected hair.
CONCLUSION:

Microscopic examination of the infected hairs may provide immediate

confirmation of the diagnosis of ringworm and establishes whether the fungus is
small-spore or large-spore ectothrix or endothrix.Culture provides precise
identification of the species for epidemiologic purposes (11).
REFRANCE:
1-. Tanya Greywal, Sheila Fallon Friedlander, in Principles and Practice of
Pediatric Infectious Diseases (Fifth Edition), 2018
2-Sriranganadane D, Waridel P, Salamin K, et al. Identification of novel secreted
proteases during extracellular proteolysis by dermatophytes at acidic pH.
Proteomics. 2011;11:4422–4433. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201100234. [PubMed]
[CrossRef].
3-. Frank J. Dowd, in xPharm: The Comprehensive Pharmacology Reference, 2007.
4-1. Rayala BZ and Morrell DS (2017): Common Skin Conditions in Children: Skin
Infections. FP Essent.,453:26-32.
5- Elewski BE. Tinea capitis: a current perspective. J Am Acad Dermatol.
2000;42:1–20. doi: 10.1016/S0190-9622(00)90001-X. [PubMed] [CrossRef]
6. Elewski BE. Tinea capitis: a current perspective. J Am Acad Dermatol.
2000;42:1–20. doi: 10.1016/S0190-9622(00)90001-X. [PubMed] [CrossRef]

7-1958. Gentles JC. Experimental ringworm in guinea pigs: oral treatment with
griseofulvin. Nature 1958; 182: 476–477.
8- Salkin IF, Padhye AA, Kemna ME. A new medium for the presumptive
identification of dermatophytes. J Clin Microbiol 1997;35:2660-2.
9- Cafarchia C, Iatta R, Latrofa MS, Gräser Y, Otranto D. Molecular epidemiology,
phylogeny and evolution of dermatophytes. Infect Genet Evol 2013;20:336-51.
10- Higgins EM, Fuller LC, Smith CH(2000): Guidelines for the management of
tinea capitis. British Association of Dermatologists. Br J Dermatol.,143:53–8.

11-Bonifaz A, Isa-Isa R, Araiza J, Cruz C, Hernández MA, Ponce RM. Cytobrush-

culture method to diagnose tinea capitis. Mycopathologia. 2007 Jun. 163(6):309-13.
[Medline].