Madurella mycetomatis is the most common cause of eumycetoma in tropical and sub tropical
countries. The mycetoma infection is a serious mycological problem affecting a large number of active
members of the society in endemic areas. The infection is difficult to treat and has an important social
and economical impact on affected patients. M. mycetomatis is a fungus showing poor morphological
differentiation, and identification of the species is always difficult.
The early diagnosis is one of the key elements mandatory to successful treatment of mycetoma. This,
however, is not easy due to the many limitations of the currently used diagnostic techniques such as
direct examination of grains, culture and histopathology. In an attempt to improve the diagnosis, we
developed a PCR-RFLP procedure for the detection and identification of the fungus in cultures and
clinical specimens. The M. mycetomatis ribosomal gene complex was amplified and sequenced using
fungal universal primers. Two sets of species-specific PCR primers were designed. Based on ITS
sequences and RFLP patterns, clinical isolates fro
