Development of fungal identification tools and evaluation of microbiological and clinical profiles of Candida species from Iran

In this PhD thesis, I will explain the identification hurdles for diagnosis/identification of opportunistic fungal species in developing countries and how these regions can benefit from the application of PCR-based assays. We developed several PCR-based assay to detect various yeast species as well as causative agents of eumycetoma. Development of such PCR assays allowed us to embark on various epidemiological studies, in which we comprehensively explored the clinical outcome and microbiological properties of the main non-albicans Candida species. Moreover, while identifying yeast species isolated from blood samples, we reported for the first time the occurrence of the environmental yeast Wickerhamomyces myanmarensis causing candidemia in an immunocompetent patient.