A 5-year-old boy recently adopted from Haiti is seen by a primary care physician. The boy appears to have an infection of the hair and scalp. The physician suspects a dermatophyte and removes infected hairs by plucking them with forceps. The sterile container with the specimen is sent to the laboratory for culture.
QUESTIONS
- What agar and incubation temperature might the laboratorian choose for primary culture?
- The laboratorian notices that the fungus is a slow grower, taking 12 days to grow. What other details should be noted?
- The colony appears downy, flat, and spreading. It has a light tan front and red-brown reverse. What is the next step for identifying this fungus?
- Rare club-shaped microconidia and sterile hyphae are noted with terminal chlamydospores. The laboratorian decides the dermatophyte is a Microsporum species. How might M. canis be differentiated from M. audouinii?
