In this study, we present antifungal susceptibility data of clinical and
environmental isolates of Central Indian Cryptococcus neoformans
(Serotype A, n = 8 and n = 50 respectively) and Cryptococcus gattii
(Serotype B, n = 01 and n = 04 respectively). Susceptibilities to fluconazole,
itraconazole and ketoconazole were determined by using NCCLS broth micro-dilution
methodology. The total number of resistant strains for fluconazole in case of
C. neoformans and C. gattii showed a significant
difference by using chi-square test (p < 0.05*), while considering fisher's exact
p value was nonsignificant (p > 0.05). However, the total number of resistant
strains for itraconazole and ketoconazole was not found statistically significant. A
comparison of geometric means of clinical and environmental strains of C.
gattii and C. neoformans was not found statistically
significant using student ‘t’ test (p value > 0.05 NS). Though less, the
antifungal data obtained in this study suggests that primary resistance among
environmental and clinical isolates of C. neoformans and C.
gattii against tested antifungal was present and C.
gattii comparatively was less susceptible than C.
neoformans var. grubii isolates to fluconazole than to
itraconazole and ketoconazole. A continuous surveillance of antifungal susceptibility
of clinical and environmental isolates of C. neoformans and
C. gattii is desirable to monitor the emergence of any resistant
strains for better management of cryptococcosis patients.
Fungi are versatile organisms; they exist on earth in all extremes of conditions. Fungi are sources of important chemical entities which may be both beneficial and deleterious. Biotechnology has helped to harness this potential of Fungi in a positive direction. The advancements in Genomics and Proteomics have opened up new horizon in research. Improved advanced Molecular Biological Technologies have given a boost to our understanding of genes and helped us to exploit the full potential of Fungi. Bioinformatics and Statistical sciences are indispensable in this regard. Databases are available, providing fast, efficient, meaningful interpretation and analysis of vast amounts of data generated in scientific laboratories.
Original Research Article The present study was aimed to evaluate some of the virulence traits, viz., extracellular proteinase and phospholipase activities, of Candida albicans (n=130) and non-albicans Candida (n=60), such as C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, C. guilliermondii, and C. krusei. The isolates of Candida species that were investigated in the current work were obtained from diverse clinical sources in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. The correlation between the clinical sources of isolation and minimum inhibitory concentration of antifungal drugs was also determined. A screening for the production of extracellular proteinase and phospholipase enzymes was done using the Yeast Carbon Base-Bovine Serum Albumin medium and the Egg Yolk Plate method, respectively. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration against the tested antifungal drugs was determined by the M-27A CLSI/NCCLS macrodilution method. Of the 190 Candida isolates, 150 (80%) were positive for extracellular proteinase and 141 (74.2%) for phospholipase secretion. A nonsignificant difference was observed for extracellular proteinase and phospholipase activities among C. albicans and non-albicans as determined by ANOVA (p > 0.05). The comparison of individual extracellular proteinase and phospholipase activities among the sources studied also demonstrated non-significant difference and almost comparable results using Dunnett's t-test and Tukey's HSD Post Hoc test for the secretion of both the enzymes. A significant positive correlation between enzyme secretion and MIC of antifungal was demonstrated (p < 0.05), which suggested some role of extracellular enzymes among the Candida spp. in increasing the resistance against commonly used antifungal drugs.
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