[Preservation of high risk fungal cultures of Histoplasma and Cryptococcus].

Introduction: culture collections are responsible for providing the microbial resources for development of biological sciences. Storage in distilled water is one of the easiest and least expensive method for long-term fungal preservation.

Objective: to evaluate the usefulness of this preservation method in fungal culture of Histoplasma and Cryptococcus.

Methods: the preservation condition of the highest biological risk species from Histoplasma y Cryptococcus genera, included in the fungal culture collection of "Pedro Kouri" Institute of Tropical Medicine in Havana, was evaluated in this study. One hundred and two strains stored in distilled water, 92% of which had been preserved for more than 10 years, were analyzed.

Results: the percentages of recovered strains from H. capsulatum, C. neoformans and C. gattii were 64.3%; 79.1% and 100% respectively. This method of preservation proved to be satisfactory for fungal culture in labs with limited financial resources. A web-based database with interesting information about the collection was made. The importance of strict compliance with the biosafety measures in these collections, particularly with high risk pathogens.

Conclusions: preservation of fungal cultures in distilled water is a very useful method for laboratories with limited resources. Culture collections should be assumed as an essential activity in order to solve increasing challenges in the development of biomedical sciences.