@article{94661,
  author = {Samaan M and Musa H and Hassan Y and Saeed M},
  title = {Fungal carriage and infection among leprosy patients in Sudan},
  abstract = {Leprosy patients often develp wound infections. While clinicians routinely focus on bacterial causes they usually forget the possibility of the presence of co-infection with opportunistic fungi that may cause complications or a delay in the healing process.
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Objective:<br>
This study looked for fungal carriage and co-infection among lepromatous leprosy patients with ulcers in Sudan.
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Methods:<br>
Swabs from infected ulcers, plus swabs from the ear, nose and eye of a sample of lepromatous leprosy patients were collected to look for fungal elements; similar swabs were collected from the ear, nose and eye of leprosy-free, healthy controls. The swabs were examined microscopically using 20% KOH and cultured on Sabouraud’s agar. Fungal growth was identified by colony morphology, gram stain, biochemical tests, Chlamydospore formation, API 20 C Aux and needle mount technique.
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Results:<br>
30 patients with leprosy and 30 healthy controls were recruited. In total fourteen fungal elements were isolated from the infected ulcers, of which seven were C. albicans (23%), four A. fumigatus (13%), two A. Niger (7%) and one A. flavus (3%). The total number of different fungal elements recovered from the ear, nose and eyes of leprosy patients was 41 (45.6%) from 90 specimens, the highest number of fungi being isolated from the ear (16/41). The total number of fungal species isolated from leprosy-free healthy controls was 12/90 (13.3%) and the commonest isolate was A.niger (7/12). The difference in fungal carriage between the leprosy patients and healthy controls is significant. A. flavus was the commonest isolate among all fungal carriage from the eye; 8 (26.7%), nose, 6 (20%) and ear 4 (13.3%), while A.niger was the second commonest 5 (16.7%) from the ear.
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Conclusions:<br>
The frequency of fungal isolates from infected wound ulcers and carriage sites was high amongst leprosy patients, as compared to the leprosy-free group. It is recommended that clinicians should consider fungi as a possible cause of infection, especially for corneal ulcers, and to consider antifungal drugs to manage such conditions.},
  year = {2020},
  journal = {Leprosy review},
  volume = {91},
  pages = {139-144},
  publisher = {Lepra},
  issn = {2162-8807},
  url = {https://leprosyreview.org/article/91/2/19-0034},
  doi = {10.47276/lr.91.2.139},
  language = {eng},
}