BackgroundHistoplasma capsulatum and Pneumocystis organisms cause host infections primarily affecting the lung tissue. H. capsulatum is endemic in the United States of America and Latin American countries. In special environments, H. capsulatum is commonly associated with bat and bird droppings. Pneumocystis-host specificity has been primarily studied in laboratory animals, and its ability to be harboured by wild animals remains as an important issue for understanding the spread of this pathogen in nature. Bats infected with H. capsulatum or Pneumocystis spp. have been found, with this mammal serving as a probable reservoir and disperser; however, the co-infection of bats with both of these microorganisms has never been explored. To evaluate the impact of H. capsulatum and Pneumocystis spp. infections in this flying mammal, 21 bat lungs from Argentina (AR), 13 from French Guyana (FG), and 88 from Mexico (MX) were screened using nested-PCR of the fragments, employing the Hcp100 locus for H. capsulatum and the mtLSUrRNA and mtSSUrRNA loci for Pneumocystis organisms.ResultsOf the 122 bats studied, 98 revealed H. capsulatum infections in which 55 of these bats exhibited this infection alone. In addition, 51 bats revealed Pneumocystis spp. infection of which eight bats exhibited a Pneumocystis infection alone. A total of 43 bats (eight from AR, one from FG, and 34 from MX) were found co-infected with both fungi, representing a co-infection rate of 35.2% (95% CI = 26.8-43.6%).ConclusionThe data highlights the H. capsulatum and Pneumocystis spp.co-infection in bat population’s suggesting interplay with this wild host.
Histoplasmosis is considered the most important systemic mycosis in Mexico, and its diagnosis requires fast and reliable methodologies. The present study evaluated the usefulness of PCR using Hcp100 and 1281-1283 molecular markers in detecting Histoplasma capsulatum in occupational and recreational outbreaks. Seven clinical serum samples of infected individuals from three different histoplasmosis outbreaks were processed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to titre anti-H. capsulatum antibodies and to extract DNA. Fourteen environmental samples were also processed for H. capsulatum isolation and DNA extraction. Both clinical and environmental DNA samples were analysed by PCR with Hcp100 and 1281-1283 markers. Antibodies to H. capsulatum were detected by ELISA in all serum samples using specific antigens, and in six of these samples, the PCR products of both molecular markers were amplified. Four environmental samples amplified one of the two markers, but only one sample amplified both markers and an isolate of H. capsulatum was cultured from this sample. All PCR products were sequenced, and the sequences for each marker were analysed using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTn), which revealed 95-98 and 98-100 % similarities with the reference sequences deposited in the GenBank for Hcp100 and 1281-1283, respectively. Both molecular markers proved to be useful in studying histoplasmosis outbreaks because they are matched for pathogen detection in either clinical or environmental samples.
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