Autofluorescence: A screening test for mycotic infection in tissues

Autofluorescence: A screening test for mycotic infection in tissues

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Fungal infection is a major health concern as the clinical features are not very distinctive.Lack of rapid diagnostic techniques results in delay in diagnosis, which may even culminate in a fatal outcome.The fact that many pathogenic fungal organisms autofluoresce in hematoxylin and eosin (H and E)-stained sections under ultraviolet illumination led us to evaluate the role of autofluorescence as a rapid screening technique for fungal infections.

The aim of the present study was to assess the value of autofluorescence as a screening method product for detecting fungi on tissue sections and to compare the results of autofluorescence with conventional histochemical stains for fungi.Hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of mycotic lesions were examined under fluorescent microscope and the findings were compared with results of Gomori′s methenamine silver and periodic acid-Schiff stains.We found fungal autofluorescence in 63 out of 64 cases studied, with 30hh bikini a sensitivity of 97.

8% and specificity of 100% in comparison with fungal stains.This was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

We conclude that autofluorescence can be used as a rapid screening method for identification of fungi in tissue sections as it does not require any other specialized staining procedure.