Genotyping and clonal origin of Sporothrix brasiliensis in human sporotrichosis cases in Argentina

Abstract

Sporothrix brasiliensis is considered a highly virulent emerging pathogen that causes sporotrichosis in humans, mainly after zoonotic transmission from infected cats. The epidemic of this zoonosis that originated from Brazil has spread in the last decades, generating hyperendemic regions in Latin America. We present two cases of human sporotrichosis causes by S. brasiliensis in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with good clinical response to differing treatments after contact with sick cats. Using Short tandem repeat (STR) genotyping, the two S. brasiliensis cases appear to be introduced from Brazil and likely originate from the same source.

Keywords: Argentina; Genotyping; Sporothrix brasiliensis; Sporotrichosis; Zoonosis.

Fig. 1

Clinical image of case 1 before (A/B) and after treatment (C/D).

Fig. 2

Clinical image of case 2 before (A/B) and after treatment (C/D).

Fig. 3

S. brasiliensis (A) Colonies at 28 °C on SDA (Sabouraud dextrose agar, left) and Lactrimel agar (right) (B) Colonies at 35 °C on SDA (C) Microscopy of mycelium form: hyaline hyphae, septate, fine, branched, with small conidia in sympodial arrangement (Lactophenol cotton blue 400X).

Fig. 4

Minimum-spanning tree of 175 clinical Sporothrix brasiliensis isolates. Isolates are colored according to the Brazilian state of retrieval, or Buenos Aires, Argentina (red encircled light blue). Branches indicate the similarity between isolates with thick solid lines (variation in one allele), thin solid lines (variation in two alleles), thin dashed lines (variation in three alleles), and thin dotted lines (variation in four or more markers). Number of isolates per location is shown in the color keys. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)