Sixty symptomatic confirmed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive adult patients, of both sexes, suspected of having a fungal infection were taken as a study population, and the clinicomycological profile was correlated with the immunological status of the patients with particular reference to CD4 counts. Relevant samples were collected and subjected to direct microscopy, fungal culture and serology. CD4 counts were determined by flow cytometry. Patients belonged to the age group of 17-65 years, with a male : female ratio of 4.8 : 1. Heterosexuality was the commonest mode of transmission. Candidiasis was the most common diagnosis (41.7 %), followed by cryptococcosis (10.0 %), and pneumocystinosis and aspergillosis (8.3 % each). Two cases of histoplasmosis were also diagnosed. A low mean CD4 count of ,200 cells ml Various fungal infections correlated well with the mean CD4 counts. It was difficult to correlate statistically WHO and CDC staging because of the small sample size. However, it was possible to assess to a limited extent the possibility of using clinical diagnosis to predict the status of progression of HIV infection in a resource-poor outpatient setting.

The study demonstrates the importance of spa genotyping in the discrimination of MRSA strains, which were otherwise indistinguishable by bacteriophage typing. spa genotyping allowed differentiation of strains within a particular phage type. Nucleotide sequencing of isolates of different PCR-RFLP patterns indicated a correlation between the RFLP patterns of a variable number of tandem repeats and the phage type. The study provides valuable information on the epidemiological characterization of MRSA strains.

HIV related opportunistic fungal infections (OFIs) continue to cause morbidity and mortality in HIV infected patients. The objective for this prospective study is to elucidate the prevalence and spectrum of common OFIs in HIV/AIDS patients in north India. Relevant clinical samples were collected from symptomatic HIV positive patients (n = 280) of all age groups and both sexes and subjected to direct microscopy and fungal culture. Identification as well as speciation of the fungal isolates was done as per the standard recommended methods. CD4+T cell counts were determined by flow cytometry using Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorter Count system. 215 fungal isolates were isolated with the isolation rate of 41.1%. Candida species (86.5%) were the commonest followed by Aspergillus (6.5%), Cryptococcus (3.3%), Penicillium (1.9%), and Alternaria and Rhodotorula spp. (0.9% each). Among Candida species, Candida albicans (75.8%) was the most prevalent species followed by C. tropicalis (9.7%), C. krusei (6.4%), C. glabrata (4.3%), C. parapsilosis (2.7%), and C. kefyr (1.1%). Study demonstrates that the oropharyngeal candidiasis is the commonest among different OFIs and would help to increase the awareness of clinicians in diagnosis and early treatment of these infections helping in the proper management of the patients especially in resource limited countries like ours.