Studies were carried out to isolate fungi from healthy skin surface and from sputum. Materials were taken from 1406 normal skin areas of 616 subjects and from sputa of 2492 patients with pulmonary and renal tuberculosis during the period from January to December, 1963. For the isolation Sabouraud's glucose agar slant was used.
From the normal skin surface, a total of 2081 strains were isolated and identified. They were Phycomycetes 31, Ascomycetes 35, Basidiomycetes 2, Actinomycetes 3, Fungi imperfecti 1695, other yeasts (yeastlike colonies excluding
Candida and
Rhodotorula) 213 and unidentified 102. As to the genera,
Candida (411) was isolated most frequently, followed by
Penicillium (310),
Aspergillus (276),
Hormodendrum (191) and
Alternaria (88) in the order of frequency. Fungi were found most frequently from the foot, and from the hand, face, head, leg, upper limb, external genital, chest and back, buttocks and femoral region in this order.
Candida was isolated most often from the external genital and buttocks, and other fungi such as
Penicillium,
Aspergillus had no regional predilection. However,
Hormodendrum and
Alternaria were more often isolated from the femoral region and yeasts from the upper limb and buttocks. The difference in incidence of the fungi with respect to age was that
Candida was isolated with the highest rate from the newborn, while yeasts were cultured more often from older individuals. As for the seasonal difference in incidence among the main six fungus genera,
Candida was most frequently encountered in summer,
Penicillium in autumn and winter,
Aspergillus in spring and summer,
Hormodendrum in autumn and winter,
Alternaria in spring, summer and late autumn, and yeasts in spring, autumn and winter.
From the sputa, a total of 1828 strains and 23 genera of fungus were isolated. They were
Candida (818),
Aspergillus (230), other yeasts (226),
Penicillium (213),
Trichosporon (70),
Geotrichum (60),
Hormodendrum (46) and
Oospora (39) etc. Of the species of
Candida, C. albicans showed the highest rate of 81.42%, and of
Aspergillus, Asp. fumigatus was found at the rate of 18.69% and
Asp. niger 4.78%. As for the number of colonies of fungus in relation to seasons, the airborn fungi such as
Penicillium, Aspergillus, Hormodendrum and
Alternaria with the exception of
Candida and yeasts, showed the same seasonal changes as those of the skin surface. No significant difference in incidence was noted in relation to sex and age.
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