Subject: Trichophyton verrucosum

From: [email-masked] (Liz Burrows)
Date: 29 Aug 1996 13:28:52 -0700

Hi, I was wondering if you could recommend a culture medium for the
isolation of Trichophyton verrucosum. The samples we usually get are
>from  cows and we have a huge environmental overgrowth problem - so
our isolation rate using traditional media is pathetic. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.
                                 Thanks alot,
                                 Liz Burrows ( [email-masked])
                                 Batchelar Animal Health Laboraory,
                                 Ministry of Agriculture,
                                 Palmerston North,
                                 New Zealand.

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From: [email-masked] (Lester Pasarell)
Date: 30 Aug 1996 07:45:16 -0700

>                                 Batchelar Animal Health Laboraory,

I have seen a paper somewhere by J. Kane and or R. Summerbell for a medium
which is selective...or used for the ID of T verrucosum...
a lot of specialized media has been made by Dr Kane in the dermatophytes, 
so if you do a literature search ...use his name....

But...I have not tryed this....how about making a medium with thiamine
and inositol...needed for T verrucosum growth, adding GEntamicin and
chlorampehicol...to inhibit them pesky bacteria that contaminate our fungus
cultures and adding Cycloheximide for inhibiting Aspegillus and the like and
throwing the culture at 37c instead of 25-30 since the growth of T
verrucosum is really faster at that temperature when compared to 30c. I do
not know of any medium that would be commercially available
with all this ingredients combined together..and I do not know if 
if the combination of high temperature plus cychlo will have any effect
on the growth and isolation of this dermatophyte...since it has been
reported in other fungi...like Histoplasma.
Another alternative would be to use the hair bating method...taking a sample
stiking or laying some sterile hairs on top and wait for the dermatphyte to
grow....would be quite tedious/time consuming for a 
medical/veterinary laboratory.

Some references/procedures for the isolation of fungi and yeast from
contaminated specimens... depending if the contaminant is 
bacteria or another fungi  appear in the following book:

Laboratory Handbook of Medical Mycology by M.R Mcginnis 1980, Academic
Press isbn=0-12-482850-7

Pleas let me know if you need additional information and or ideas....

lester

Lester Pasarell-Luiggi                        
Medical Mycology Reference Laboratory 
Department of Pathology                           
University of Texas Medical Branch            
Galveston, Tx 77555-0609                      
http://fungus.utmb.edu/myco.htm                                       
[email-masked]