The yeasts of patients with oral cancer has been studied before and during Xr-therapy. Gram and PAS smears revealed an increase of yeast-like structures, during treatment, from 56% to 66% of the cases. Before radiotherapy oral yeasts were isolated from 56% of the patients with cancer represented by Candida albicans (30%); C. tropicalis (12%); C. glabrata and C. krusei (4%), besides six other different species (2%). During radiotherapy yeasts were isolated in 72% of the cases, as follow: C. albicans (36%); C. tropicalis (16%); Rhodotorula rubra (6%); C. kefyr; C. krusei and Pichia farinosa (4%), besides other nine species (2%). C. albicans serotype A represented 93% of the isolated samples, before treatment and 88.8% during Xr-therapy.

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SUMMARYCryptococcosis is a worldwide disease caused by the etiological agent Cryptococcus neoformans. It affects mainly immunocompromised humans. It is relatively rare in animals only affecting those that have received prolonged antibiotic therapy. The propolis is a resin that can present several biological properties, including antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. The standard strain C. neoformans ATTC 90112 was used to the antifungal evaluation. The tests were realized with propolis ethanol extract (PEE) G12 in concentrations from 0.1 to 1.6 mg mL -1 . The evaluation of MIC and MFC were done according to DUARTE (2002) 5 . The inhibitory effect of PEE G12 on the fungal growing was seen at the concentration of 0.2 mg mL -1 and 1.6 mg mL -1 was considered a fungicidal one.

A prospective study was performed to evaluate the correlation between the proposed standard of the Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European Committee on Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AFST-EUCAST) (document 7.1) and the commercial system Etest for determining the MICs of flucytosine, amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole for a collection of 100 clinical and environmental isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans. The agreements among Etest MICs within ±2 log 2 dilutions of AFST-EUCAST standard MICs were greater for flucytosine, fluconazole and voriconazole (76, 78 and 88 %, respectively) than for amphotericin B (5 %), the lowest agreement, and itraconazole (67 %). Overall, the correlation coefficients were statistically significant (P<0?05), and it is suggested that the Etest and AFST-EUCAST method are reliable alternatives and present good correlation for all drugs evaluated except amphotericin B. However, the observed differences related to MICs for susceptible, susceptible dose dependent and resistant strains between the methods suggest that it will be necessary to carry out further studies, including assessment of interlaboratory agreement and correlation of MICs by different methods with in vivo response. INTRODUCTIONCryptococcus neoformans is ubiquitous in the environment, and usually it is found associated with avian guano and vegetative debris (Randhawa et al., 2003). The yeast is an exogenous and opportunistic pathogen capable of causing life-threatening infections, especially in people with immunodeficiencies, such as patients with AIDS, transplanted organs or some haematological malignancies (Casadevall & Perfect, 1998). The pharmacological management of cryptococcal infections usually consists of primary therapy with amphotericin B, with or without flucytosine, almost always followed by a maintenance therapy, or a life-long suppressive therapy, with some azoles, principally, fluconazole (Saag et al., 2000). High rates of fungal persistence and frequent disease relapse have sparked an increasing concern among clinicians considering the potential for antifungal resistance emergence among C. neoformans strains (Berg et al., 1998;Brandt et al., 2001). For these reasons it is necessary to develop routine methods for determining the susceptibility of C. neoformans strains isolated from different sites to antifungal agents in order to evaluate the efficacy of treatments and the evolution of the disease. The main effort to develop a routine method for testing susceptibility of yeasts to antifungal agents has employed different species of Candida. These methods for determining the in vitro susceptibility of Candida spp., however, cannot be extrapolated to C. neoformans, owing to the fastidious nature of this micro-organism and its slow growth (Ghannoun et al., 1992). The development of standardized antifungal susceptibility testing methods for the latter fungi has been the subject of numerous studies during the last decade Rex et al., 2001 Etest procedures. Etest strip...

Os dermatófitos constituem um grupo de fungos filamentosos que podem colonizar tecidos queratinizados de seres humanos e animais, causando lesões dermatofíticas. Diante da ocorrência frequente de dermatofitoses em humanos e por se tratar de uma dermatozoonose, com destaque ao papel dos animais domésticos na transmissão de fungos para o homem, decidiu-se pelo isolamento e identificação de dermatófitos a partir de escamas de pele coletadas de cães e gatos encaminhados às clínicas veterinárias da cidade de Alfenas, Minas Gerais, Brasil. O material clínico foi coletado em áreas da cabeça, costas e abdome de 40 gatos e 40 cães. O isolamento de dermatófitos ocorreu em 13 cães (32,5%) e 14 gatos (35%), sendo que apenas 2 (7,4%) destes animais apresentavam lesões características de dermatofitose. Dados disponíveis na literatura revelam a ocorrência de número considerável de animais portadores assintomáticos mas transmissores potenciais dos agentes da dermatofitose. Os fungos foram identificados como Microsporum canis (52,2%), Microsporum gypseum (14,9%) e espécies do gênero Trichophyton (31,9%). M. canis foi a espécie predominante entre os gatos (67,8%) e Trichophyton spp. entre os cães (57,9%). A alta probabilidade de contágio humano, o custo do tratamento e dificuldades associadas a medidas de controle dos casos de dermatofitose apontam para a necessidade e importância deste estudo.

Avaliou-se a atividade de fungicidas azólicos de uso agronômico (epoxiconazol, difenoconazol e ciproconazol) em comparação ao antifúngico de uso terapêutico fluconazol sobre 23 amostras ambientais de Cryptococcus neoformans var neoformans isoladas de fezes de pombos, as quais foram coletadas em fazendas com práticas agrícolas empregando compostos azólicos e 11 amostras clínicas isoladas de pacientes portadores de criptococose. Os testes de sensibilidade foram realizados pela técnica de diluição em agar. A concentração inibitória mínima capaz de inibir 50% dos isolados ambientais (CIM 50) foi de 6,0µg/mL para epoxiconazol, 1,0µg/mL para difenoconazol, 2,0µg/mL para ciproconazol e 64,0µg/mL para fluconazol. Entre os isolados clínicos os valores de CIM 50 foram 2,0µg/mL, 0,38µg/mL, 1,0µg/mL e 16,0µg/mL para epoxiconazol, difenoconazol, ciproconazol e fluconazol, respectivamente. Os valores de CIM 50 em relação aos isolados de origem ambiental foram maiores do que os valores para os isolados de origem clínica. Em nosso estudo, frente ao mesmo antifúngico, as amostras ambientais apresentaram comportamento significativamente diferente em relação às amostras clínicas (p < 0,05). Diferenças (p<0,05) também foram observadas entre os valores de concentração inibitória apresentados pelo fluconazol e os outros antifúngicos de uso agronômico tanto no grupo dos isolados ambientais quanto clínicos.

Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast, aetiological agent of cryptococcosis, commonly associated with pigeon droppings and plant materials. The species has also been associated with tree hollows. The aim of the present work was to verify the presence of the yeast in hollows of living trees and identify the isolates obtained in varieties and serotypes. Three samples were collected from 18 trees of five different species totalling 54 samples. Wood samples were collected by scraping the surface of the trunks and the inner face of the hollows. Samples were inoculated on to agar Niger medium for fungal isolation. The serotypes were determined by PCR using specific primers. Among the 54 samples evaluated, two were positive for the presence of C. n. var. neoformans (serotype A and MATalpha). The trees belonged to Caesalpinia peltophoroides and Anadenanthera peregrina species. The results of this study suggest that decayed wood obtained from hollows of C. peltophoroides and A. peregrina can be used as natural habitat for C. n. var. neoformans.

The increased incidence of infections caused by the opportunistic pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, which mainly affects immunocompromised patients but can also infect immunocompetent individuals, has needed additional studies on this micro-organism's pathogenicity and factors related to virulence, such as enzyme production, for a better understanding of the aetiology of cryptococcosis. The aim of this study was to verify the applicability of non-denaturing PAGE for analysis of laccases by quantification of the amount of melanin pigment produced by clinical and environmental strains of C. neoformans. After incubation of the gel with the substrate L-dopa, strains produced melanin spots of a bright brown to black colour. Quantification of these spots was performed by densitometry analysis and the amount of melanin produced was calculated and compared among the strains. All strains showed laccase activity. Serotype B strains showed a higher melanin intensity than serotype A strains. Over half of the clinical strains (56.2 %) showed the lowest melanin intensities, suggesting that melanin production may not be the main virulence factor against host defence. The clinical strain ICB 88 revealed two melanin spots on the gel, indicating the presence of two laccase isoforms. The environmental strains showed the highest values of melanin intensity, which may be related to previous exposure to environmental stress conditions.