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. 2003 Dec;41(12):5525-9.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.41.12.5525-5529.2003.

Epidemiology of Aspergillus terreus at a university hospital

John W Baddley  1 , Peter G Pappas, Anita C Smith, Stephen A Moser
Affiliations

Epidemiology of Aspergillus terreus at a university hospital

John W Baddley et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Dec.

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections due to Aspergillus species have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients. Aspergillus terreus, a less common pathogen, appears to be an emerging cause of infection at our institution, the University of Alabama hospital in Birmingham. We therefore investigated the epidemiology of A. terreus over the past 6 years by using culture data; antifungal susceptibility testing with amphotericin B, voriconazole, and itraconazole; and molecular typing with random amplification of polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD-PCR). During the study period, the percentage of A. terreus isolates relative to those of other Aspergillus species significantly increased, and A. terreus isolates frequently were resistant to amphotericin B. Molecular typing with the RAPD technique was useful in discriminating between patient isolates, which showed much strain diversity. Further surveillance of A. terreus may better define epidemiology and determine whether this organism is becoming more frequent in relation to other Aspergillus species.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Graph depicting the frequency of isolation of A. terreus isolates relative to that of all Aspergillus species during the study period (black bars) and the percentage of patients with A. terreus isolates relative to the total number of patients with Aspergillus species (white bars). Total numbers of Aspergillus isolates are listed below the x axis. The y axis represents percentages of A. terreus isolates or patients.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Dendrogram and gel band patterns of RAPD fingerprints of 23 A. terreus isolates typed with primer R108. The scale at the top represents percent similarity. The patient numbers and strain types are listed to the right of the figure and correspond to those in Table 1.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Dendrogram and gel band patterns of RAPD fingerprints of 23 A. terreus isolates typed with primer CII. The scale at the top represents percent similarity. The patient numbers and strain types are listed to the right of the figure and correspond to those in Table 1.
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