Dignitaries release a manual at the 5th national workshop hosted at PIMS recently.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The rising incidence of fungal infections related to immunocompromised conditions, drug resistance and newer diagnostic protocols were the focus of the 5th national workshop on mycology (study of fungi) hosted recently by the Department of Microbiology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
The three-day workshop, an annual exercise to refresh and update knowledge with specialists, aimed to train microbiologists on the basic techniques for identification of fungus in patients. This has become more imperative against the backdrop of the sharp increase in the number of fungal infections due to immunocompromised status in the community.
Inaugurating the event, Renu G’ Boy Varghese, PIMS Director-Principal, spoke about the importance of diagnostic microbiology.
During the workshop, participants were given hands-on training on various testing methods of identification of fungus including PCR, rapid methods for identification for newer fungi and the treatment modalities of fungal infections. The problems related to antifungal drug resistance, testing methods and the ways to tackle it were also discussed.
Reba Kanungo, former Dean-Research Head of Microbiology at PIMS, released the workshop manual.
The resource persons included Dr. Kanungo and Shivaprakash, member of faculty at PGIMER, Chandigarh, Anupma Kindo from Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai and Suresh Kumar D, infectious disease specialist at Apollo Hospitals and Madras Medical Mission Chennai.
Published – October 10, 2024 08:45 pm IST