<u>When a person’s hair, nails, and skin areas are infected with fungus, such infections are determined by a doctor through the KOH test.</u> While taking a skin sample for the test, the nurse or a doctor must use a scraping tool to remove the infected skin and place it in the KOH solution, which is later examined under the microscope.
Further Explanation:
<u>The KOH or potassium hydroxide test is generally performed to check whether the cause of infection in the skin is a fungus or not. </u>The constituent elements in KOH are potassium (K), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O), which together produce potassium hydroxide. <u>The products such as soft soaps, fertilizers, and alkaline batteries make use of KOH.
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<u>A change on the surface of the skin or skin lesion can be a result of infection through many agents. </u>The KOH test is done when a fungal infection is suspected. The infection through tinea cruris and ringworm are the fungal infections usually determined by the KOH test.
The symptoms of the infection by a fungus include:
- Red, itchy patches on the skin
- When it occurs in the mouth, white patches are seen
- Thickened or deformed nails
The procedure of the test involves the following steps:
- A small area of the skin is scraped through a glass slide or any other instrument.
- The scraped skin is kept in a potassium hydroxide solution.
- The KOH kills the healthy cell while keeping the fungal cells alive.
- A normal KOH test would result in the absence of fungal cells.
- An abnormal test result will have the presence of fungal cells.
- The presence or absence of the fungal infection is determined after examining the solution containing the infected skin area under the microscope.
Therefore, if <u>the KOH solution degrades all the cells, the infection is not done by a fungus. </u>This means that the symptoms might have occurred due to some other infectious agent. In the presence of fungal infection, the doctor might suggest further treatment.
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Answer Details:
Grade: College Biology
Chapter: Fungal Infections
Subject: Biology
Keywords:
KOH test, potassium hydroxide, fungal infection, ringworm, tinea cruris, glass slide, fungal cells.