Fungi as an aetiological factor of upper respiratory diseases.

Mycologic investigations were carried out in subjects suffering from upper respiratory tract ailments. The material for assessment was collected from various ontocenoses. Species of fungal strains were determined by means of the morphological and biochemical analyses. Special attention was paid to the frequency of fungi occurring in multiple foci of the same system. In patients presented with ailments of the upper respiratory tract the presence of fungi, predominantly species of Candida genus was detected in different ontocenoses. In 1/4 of cases the fungi were found in 2 or 3 foci, which can induce systemic transmission, interfere with treatment and result in recurrent infections

The role of fungi in etiopathogenesis of delayed orthopaedic wound healing.

Mycological investigations were carried out in 20 patients due to the delayed wound healing, following orthopaedic surgery at the Department of Orthopaedics, Medical University of Łódź. The material samples for fungal assessment were taken from the wound, surrounding skin and oral cavity. In all patients, the fungi were isolated at least from one ontocenosis; from the wound in 40.0% of subjects studied, from the wound-surrounding skin in 55.0% and from the oral cavity in 85.0%. It should be emphasized that the occurrence of fungi was more frequently observed simultaneously in two or three ontocenoses (70.0%) than in one (30.0%). Unifocal infection was found only in the oral cavity, while the presence of fungi in the wound was accompanied by their appearance in the region of wound-surrounding skin and/or in the oral cavity

EVALUTION OF ACTIVITY OF ACID ASPARTIC PROTEINASE IN CANDIDA STRAINS . ISOLATED FROM ORAL CAVITY OF PATIENTS WITH INCREASED RISK OF MYCOSIS

We have evaluated the activity of acid aspartic protease in 195 strains of Candida isolated from the oral cavity of three groups of patients. The first group comprised patients with cancer of the larynx qualified for surgery, the second- patients with neoplastic disease (Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, acute granulocytic leukaemia, lymphatic leukaemia, lung cancer, multiple myeloma, stomach cancer, breast cancer) who were not treated, the third group- patients with neoplastic diseases treated by chemotherapy. The strains of fungi were differentiated using API 20C and Api 20C AUX tests according to the protocol adopted at the Department of Medical Parasitology and Biology, Medical University of Łódż. The activity of acid protease was studied by Staib method in Rózga modification. Almost all strains showed high and very high proteolytic activity. The rang of proteolysis zone of Candida strains from the three groups of patients varied from 2,5 to 12,5 mm. We have found the mean proteolytic zones of strains isolated from groups Iand III differed statistically significantly (p<0,001). Similarly, statisticall sihnificant difference was seen between these parameters for groups II and III (p<0,05), while there was no difference between strains from group I and II