Zoma Fungal Diagnostics: Course on the Identification of Dermatophytes

This practical course will cover the basic principles in the isolation of fungi from skin, hair and nails including best practice for isolation, incubation, and microscopic diagnosis. Basic fungal structure will be introduced so that delegates can differentiate macro/microconidia, arthrospores and hyphae. This course requires a basic level of microbiology and some laboratory experience of the processing of diagnostic samples.

Duration
1 day (various dates)

CPD
5 points

Who should attend?
This course is designed for microbiologists at all levels including but not limited to biomedical/healthcare scientists and medical microbiologists who are currently working in the laboratory.

Location
Courses are held in Bristol, UK

Course Organiser and Speaker
Dr Mark Fraser, BSc, MSc, PhD. Clinical Scientist (Zoma Fungal Diagnostics Ltd)

Learning Objectives for the course

• To demonstrate techniques for the processing of skin, hair, and nails to maximise recovery of fungal pathogens and reduce contamination.
• To explain the best practice process for the visualisation of fungal elements in skin, hair, and nails.
• To be able to identify common features seen in the direct microscopic examination of skin, hair, and nails such as arthrospores, hyphae, fronding, yeast cells and Malassezia spp. cells using fluorescence dyes.
• To provide delegates with the skills to identify the three main genus of dermatophytes: Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton whilst enhancing their confidence in the identification to species level.
• To recognise and identify examples of non-dermatophyte fungi which may also be a cause skin and nail infections.