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The extent to which veterinary pathogenic and human opportunistic species of thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi disseminate in aerosols from heated effluents of nuclear production reactors of the Savannah River Plant (SRP), South Carolina, has been measured. Aerosol samples were taken at 140 sites, from directly over thermal effluents to more than 100 kilometers from the SRP boundary. Sampling methods included settle plates (134 sites, 1, 103 plates for a total of 2, 805 hrs.), liquid impingement (78 sites, 1 cubic meter each), filtration (79 sites, 1 cubic meter each), and a particle sizing cascade impactor (Andersen Sampler) (17 sites, 1 cubic meter each). Soils, foams, and microbial mats from thermal effluents (a total of 191 samples), and vegetation (560 samples) were sampled to study distribution of particular species. Sampling was done under a variety of conditions: hot weather and cold, wet and dry, day and night, windy and calm, reactor(s) operating and not, disturbed vegetation and undisturbed. At 102 of the aerosol sampling sites, sophisticated meterological analyses were used to allow sampling of air in the plume which originated from thermal effluents. Soil, foam, microbial mat, vegetation, and aerosol samples were quantitatively plated for detection of viable units; filters were halved and then both plated and observed microscopically. Significant dissemination of thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi from thermal effluents was not detected. Thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi were widely distributed in soil, air, and on vegetation. Dactylaria gallopava, the indicator species and dominant fungus in microbial mats lining SRP thermal effluents and the cause of epidemic fatal phaeohyphomycosis in flocks of turkeys and chickens in South Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere, was isolated from air at a maximum of 50 meters from effluents (8 viable units per cubic meter of air in the plume of an effluent during a strong wind).

Four monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced by immunizing mice with a disrupted yeast cell homogenate of Histoplasma capsulatum. MAbs 1 and 2 reacted only with the yeast cell antigens of H. capsulatum and Blastomyces dermatitidis, whereas MAbs 3 and 4 showed broader cross-reactivity. MAb 3 cross-reacted with B. dermatitidis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Sporothrix schenckii, and Candida albicans, and MAb 4 cross-reacted with B. dermatitidis, C. albicans, Coccidioides immitis, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All four MAbs exhibited unique specificity when reacted with three different strains of H. capsulatum (G217B, A811, and P-IN). MAb 1 belonged to the IgG2b subclass, MAb 3 belonged to the IgG1 subclass, and MAbs 2 and 4 belonged to the IgG3 subclass. MAbs 1, 2, and 3 formed bands in the Western immunoblot assay; the two dominant distinct bands had apparent molecular masses of 72 and 62 kilodaltons.

Rhizomucor miehei (Cooney & Emerson) Schipper, R. pusillus (Lindt) Schipper, Rhizopus rhizopodiformis (Cohn) Zopf, and Absidia corymbifera (Cohn) Sacc. & Trotter were isolated from numerous materials immersed in YpSs agar or 2% malt extract agar containing 50 μg/ml Benlate, 100 U/ml penicillin G, and 40 μg/ml streptomycin sulfate; agar plates were incubated at 45 °C. Alternative media and procedures useful for special circumstances are described. These four pathogenic thermophilic or thermotolerant species were readily isolated from spices, herbal teas, sunflower seeds, and other materials.

SUMMARY Acid spring effluents are often covered with mats of the eucaryotic phycocyanin-containing alga. Cyanidium caldarium. The primary bacterial component of such mats is an acidophilic strain of Bacillus coagulans, and the primary fungal component is Dactylaria gallopava. Because of the limited species diversity, C. caldarium mats appeared to be an excellent system for studying algal excretion and various microbial interactions in nature. From 2 to 6% of the NaH14CO3 taken up by natural or laboratory populations of the alga was excreted as 14C-labeled materials. The maximum excretion occurred at temperature, light, and pH values optimum for NaH14CO3 uptake. However, when excretion was expressed as a percentage of NaH14CO3 uptake, a higher percentage of the radioactivity was excreted at nonoptimal conditions for NaH14CO3 uptake. Fungal biomass was directly proportional to algal density, but bacterial numbers varied widely and did not correlate with algal numbers. The bacterial and fungal components could be grown in mixed culture with either growing C. caldarium cultures or in an extract prepared, by healing algal cells.