Dermatológia pre prax 4/2024

Mycological diagnostics

Most fungal infections of the skin and skin appendages are caused by dermatophytes, less commonly by yeasts or non-dermatophytes. Their clinical picture is not specific for the pathogens mentioned above. Many of them can produce identical clinical pictures. Therefore, only an adequate fungal examination can identify the causative pathogen. Modern mycological diagnostics now includes molecular biology methods in addition to classical diagnostic components such as direct microscopic and culture examination. Histological detection of fungi has a high sensitivity and plays an important role especially in the diagnosis of systemic mycoses. Although not in routine practice, molecular biological methods such as PCR and MALDI TOF are also beginning to be used with success to complement conventional fungal diagnosis.

Keywords: mycological diagnostics, infections of the skin, molecular biology