MICOLOGY

OLIVIA A WAWORUNTU, MD, MPH(TROP)

MICROBIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
MEDICAL FACULTY
HASANUDDIN UNIVERSITY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

► To describe the basic structural features of fungi

► To describe the classification of fungi
► To describe the pathogenesis of fungal infection
► To describe the general features of fungal infection
► To describe the laboratory examination for fungal
infection
What is a fungus ?
Differences between fungi, plants & animals
 Fungi general characteristics
• Eukaryotes
• Non-photosynthetic (chemoheterotrophs)
• Generally saprophytic
• Secrete degradative enzymes (cellulases, proteases,
nucleases)
• Some pathogenic to human
• Non-motile
• Cell wall composed of chitin (N-acetylglucosamine
polymer)
• Membrane 🡪 ergosterol
 Fungi Structure
• Cell wall serves to:
1. Provide shape & form
2. Protect against mechanical injury
3. Prevent osmotic lysis
4. Provide protection against the ingress of potentially harmful
macromolecules
• Plasma membrane 🡪 regulates the passage of materials in and out
of the cell (selectively permeable)
• Microtubules 🡪 movement of organelles, chromosomes, nuclei &
Golgi vesicles
• Organelles
• Golgi vesicles
• Nuclei
 Fungi forms
• Three groups of pathogenic fungi form:
a. Yeast-like fungi
b. Mold or filamentous fungi
c. Dimorphic fungi
 Yeast-like Fungi
• Round or oval, unicellular.
• Pseudomycellium 🡪 Candida spp.
• Spherical with a capsule 🡪 Cryptococcus spp.
• Asexual budding; Ascomycota 🡪 sexual
reproduction

A Concise Manual of Pathogenic Microbiology, 2013.

 Molds or Filamentous Fungi
• Consist of several thallus
• Thallus includes mycelium, sporangiophore or
conidiophore, spore and spore-bearing structure
• Mycelium 🡪 hyphae growth
• Hyphae 🡪 septate or aseptate

A Concise Manual of Pathogenic Microbiology, 2013.

 Dimorphic Fungi
• Exhibit properties of both yeast (host tissue)
and molds (natural habitat).
• Majority pathogenic
 Fungal Reproduction
Asexual Spora Sexual

Conidia Sporangiospora Zygospora

Artroconidia/ Artrospora Basidiospora

Blastoconidia/ Ascospora
Blastospora

Clamidoconidia/
clamidospora

Phyaloconidia
Pathogenesis and Immunity of Fungal
Infections
 Introduction
• Fungi are so widely distributed in environment.
They can be isolated from soil, air and water
• Human: normal flora or pathogen
• Common mechanism: Inhalation of infections
conidia generated from molds growing in the
environment
• Some environmental fungi produce disease:
injected past skin barrier
• Endogenous infection are restricted to a few
yeasts, primarily Candida albicans
 Pathogenesis
• Fungal pathogenesis is similar to bacteria
• Most fungi are opportunists.
1. Adherence
✔ Adherence is mediated by fungal adhesins and host cell
receptors
✔ Manoprotein is an adhesin and fibronectin a receptor
2. Invasion:
✔ Traumatic injections
✔ small conidia pass airway defences
3. Tissue injury
✔ No classic exotoxins are produced in vivo
✔ Injury is due to inflammatory and immunologic responses
 Pathogenesis

Fungi system view. Localized disease (left) is caused by local trauma or the superficial invasion of
flora resident on the oropharyngeal (thrush), gastrointestinal, or vaginal mucosa. Systemic disease
(right) begins with inhalation of conidia followed by dissemination to other sites.
 Immunity

• Phagocyte interactions
✔ Most fungi are readily killed by neutrophils
✔ Tissue phases of dimorphic fungi resist phagocytic killing
• Adaptive immune response
✔ Humoral immunity: opsonizing antibody is effective in
some yeasts infection
✔ Cellular immunity:
1. Systemic disease associated with deficiencies in
neutrophils and T cell-mediated immunity
2. Fungi that escape neutrophils grow slowly in macrophages
3. Growth is restricted when macrophage activated by cytokines
4. Immune defects lead to progressive disease
 Immunity

Immunity to fungal infections.

A. Pathogenic fungi are able to survive and multiply slowly in non-activated
macrophages.
B. When macrophages are activated by cytokines from T-cells the growth is
restricted and the fungi digested
LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS
OF MYCOSES
KOH mount of skin specimen showing M. furfur ‘ball meat and spaghetti’
Aspergillus in sputum sample
Different colony colors and morphologies of various Candida species on
CHROMagar Candida. Isolates of C. albicans ATCC 90028 (top), C. krusei ATCC
6258 (right), C. glabrata (bottom), C. tropicalis (lower left), C. parapsilosis ATCC
90018 (upper left) on CHROMagar Candida plates
 Summary
• Fungal Infection is from environment or
endogenous flora
• Yeast identified biochemically, molds by morphology
and culture features. Growth in culture is simple but slow.
Sabouraud’s agar optimal for fungi
• Different fungi produce different clinical
manifestations
THANK YOU