The Isolation of Pathogenic Fungi from Sodium Hydroxide-processed Sputum Specimens from Patients Suspected to Have Tuberculosis
Open Access
- 1 August 1971
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in American Journal of Clinical Pathology
- Vol. 56 (2) , 201-203
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/56.2.201
Abstract
Specimens received for tuberculosis bacteriology from 1966 to 1969 were processed by the sodium hydroxide technic. Occasionally, these specimens produced fungi on the Lowenstein-Jensen and Middlebrook-Cohn 7H-10 media. Attempts to determine whether these isolates had pathogenic potential revealed that 23 of the 860 fungal isolates were known pathogens. Allescheria boydii, Aspergillus fumigatus and Nocardia asteroides were among those isolated. Although the ratio of pathogenic to saprophytic fungal isolates in this study was small, it is significant to learn that it is possible to isolate and identify some pathogenic fungi when using this relatively lethal digestion procedure for routine mycobacterial isolation.Keywords
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