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      Medical Mycology dissertation topics require prioritisation among Postgraduate Microbiology trainees of Makerere University, Uganda

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          Highlights

          • Only 5 (3.3%) of the postgraduate dissertations were on medical mycology.

          • Cryptococcal meningitis (40%, n = 2) was the most researched topic.

          • The most common method for studying fungal diseases was culture (60%, n = 3).

          • There is limited research on medical mycology at Makerere University, Uganda.

          Abstract

          Background

          As elsewhere worldwide, there is an increasing burden of fungal diseases in Uganda. However, expertise in medical mycology (the study of fungal diseases of medical importance) among clinicians and laboratory personnel remains low.

          Objective

          This study sought to determine the proportion of dissertations on medical mycology among postgraduate medical microbiology trainees at the College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda.

          Methods

          We retrospectively reviewed the topics of dissertations submitted to the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology & Molecular Biology from 2011 through 2018. The proportion of dissertation topics on medical mycology was analysed using descriptive statistics.

          Results

          A total of 152 dissertations were retrieved. Of these, only 5 (3.3%) were on medical mycology compared to bacteriology (50.7%, n = 77), virology (27.6%, n = 42), parasitology (14.5%, n = 22) and immunology (4.0%, n = 6). Of the 5 dissertations on fungal diseases, the distribution was as follows: cryptococcal meningitis (40%, n = 2), Candidiasis (20%, n = 1), superficial mycoses (20%, n = 1) and other invasive fungal diseases (20%, n = 1). The most common method that was used for studying the fungal diseases was culture 60%, n = 3.

          Conclusion

          There is limited research on medical mycology among the postgraduate medical microbiology trainees of Makerere University, Uganda.

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          Most cited references12

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          Hidden killers: human fungal infections.

          Although fungal infections contribute substantially to human morbidity and mortality, the impact of these diseases on human health is not widely appreciated. Moreover, despite the urgent need for efficient diagnostic tests and safe and effective new drugs and vaccines, research into the pathophysiology of human fungal infections lags behind that of diseases caused by other pathogens. In this Review, we highlight the importance of fungi as human pathogens and discuss the challenges we face in combating the devastating invasive infections caused by these microorganisms, in particular in immunocompromised individuals.
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            • Record: found
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            Is Open Access

            Global and Multi-National Prevalence of Fungal Diseases—Estimate Precision

            Fungal diseases kill more than 1.5 million and affect over a billion people. However, they are still a neglected topic by public health authorities even though most deaths from fungal diseases are avoidable. Serious fungal infections occur as a consequence of other health problems including asthma, AIDS, cancer, organ transplantation and corticosteroid therapies. Early accurate diagnosis allows prompt antifungal therapy; however this is often delayed or unavailable leading to death, serious chronic illness or blindness. Recent global estimates have found 3,000,000 cases of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, ~223,100 cases of cryptococcal meningitis complicating HIV/AIDS, ~700,000 cases of invasive candidiasis, ~500,000 cases of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, ~250,000 cases of invasive aspergillosis, ~100,000 cases of disseminated histoplasmosis, over 10,000,000 cases of fungal asthma and ~1,000,000 cases of fungal keratitis occur annually. Since 2013, the Leading International Fungal Education (LIFE) portal has facilitated the estimation of the burden of serious fungal infections country by country for over 5.7 billion people (>80% of the world’s population). These studies have shown differences in the global burden between countries, within regions of the same country and between at risk populations. Here we interrogate the accuracy of these fungal infection burden estimates in the 43 published papers within the LIFE initiative.
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              • Record: found
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              Invasive Candidiasis.

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                IJID Reg
                IJID Reg
                IJID Regions
                Elsevier
                2772-7076
                04 May 2022
                June 2022
                04 May 2022
                : 3
                : 261-264
                Affiliations
                [a ]Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
                [b ]Infectious Diseases Institute, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
                [c ]Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
                [d ]Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda
                [e ]Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding authors at: Beatrice Achan, Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda, Felix Bongomin, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Uganda. beatriceachan@ 123456yahoo.co.uk drbongomin@ 123456gmail.com
                Article
                S2772-7076(22)00061-3
                10.1016/j.ijregi.2022.04.010
                9216442
                a2aa07e2-6ead-4254-a393-9fe7ba75eb83
                © 2022 The Author(s)

                This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

                History
                : 24 February 2022
                : 17 April 2022
                : 25 April 2022
                Categories
                Original Report

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