Suppression of fungal growth exhibited by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Three surgery patients were monitored postoperatively, with particular reference to lung infection. In each case there was a clinical impression that Pseudomonas aeruginosa suppressed the growth of Candida albicans in patients with clinically significant lung infections from whom both of these organisms were isolated from serial sputum samples. Regrowth of C. albicans after P. aeruginosa eradication occurred in two patients, despite fluconazole therapy, to which both C. albicans isolates were susceptible. In all three patients, the strain of P. aeruginosa was found to inhibit the growth of the corresponding C. albicans strain in vitro. Further in vitro susceptibility studies revealed significant inhibition by 10 strains of P. aeruginosa of 11 strains of fungi known to infect humans; these were Candida krusei, Candida keyfr, Candida guillermondii, Candida tropicalis, Candida lusitaniae, Candida parapsilosis, Candida pseudotropicalis, Candida albicans, Torulopsis glabrata, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Aspergillus fumigatus.