球孢子菌和组织胞浆菌感染的实验室诊断研究进展

Advances in laboratory diagnosis of Coccidioides and Histoplasma infections

摘要:

球孢子菌属(Coccidioides)和组织胞浆菌属(Histoplasma)致病性强，其孢子经空气播散引发感染，属于潜在的重要真菌生物战剂。尽管这2个属的真菌多在美洲等地区被检出，但其在全球的流行范围正在不断扩大。这2种真菌引发的感染在早期阶段的症状包括咳嗽、胸痛、呼吸困难和发热等，特异性不高，与细菌或病毒感染引起的社区获得性肺炎、结核等症状相似，因此，对这2种真菌感染的快速灵敏诊断具有重要意义和挑战性。本文对这2种高致病性真菌感染的实验室诊断方法进行了综述，重点描述了目前实验室诊断方法的特点和局限性。

Abstract:

Coccidioides and Histoplasma are highly pathogenic fungi that cause infections through airborne dissemination of spores and are potential candidates for fungal biological warfare agents. Although the two genera of fungi are mainly detected in America, their global prevalence is constantly expanding. The early-stage symptoms of infections induced by them include cough, chest pain, dyspnea, and fever, which have no specific clinical manifestations and are similar to those of community-acquired pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other diseases caused by bacterial or viral infections. Therefore, the rapid and sensitive diagnosis of infection by the two genera of fungi is of great importance and challenging. This paper reviews the laboratory diagnostic methods of Coccidioides and Histoplasma infections and particularly describes the advantages and limitations of the current laboratory diagnostic methods.