Clinical implications of environmental sources for Aspergillus.

Contains fulltext : 48771.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Invasive aspergillosis presents a formidable problem for both diagnosis and therapy. Therefore, prevention is a very important strategy in controlling this disease. Preventing invasive aspergillosis demands a clear understanding of the environmental sources of Aspergillus spp. and how this mould is transmitted to patients. Insight into the sources of exposure, mechanisms of transmission, and host susceptibility to infection are vital to appropriately direct preventive strategies to those settings where the risk of infection is the highest and consequently the impact of prevention the greatest

Isolation of nucleic acids for fungal diagnosis

PCR can aid in the diagnosis of invasive fungal disease (IFD). While the large number of “in-house” methodologies drives technological diversity, providing robustness, they make it difficult to identify optimal strategies, limiting standardization, and widespread acceptance. No matter how efficient, PCR utility will be limited by the quality of extracted nucleic acid. This chapter highlights benefits and limitations affecting the nucleic acid extraction process, before focusing on recent recommendations that through multicenter evaluation have provided optimal and standardized methodology