The largest recorded epidemic of sporotrichosis in the United States occurred in 1988 and involved a total of 84 cases in 15 states. All cases were associated with Wisconsin-grown sphagnum moss. Twenty-one clinical isolates of Sporothrir schenckii and 69 environmental isolates of Sporothrix spp. from the epidemic were characterized and compared. The environmental isolates were recovered from 102 samples of sphagnum moss and other material by using direct plating techniques. Characteristics examined included macroscopic and microscopic morphology, conversion to a yeast phase, exoantigen reactions, and virulence in mice. On the basis of these studies, eight environmental isolates were identified as S. schenckii, five were identified as Ophiostoma stenoceras, and the remainder were identified as Sporothrix species. The environmental isolates of S. schenckii were recovered from moss samples from one Pennsylvania nursery and from three New York State Soil and Water Conservation districts, but none were recovered from moss directly from the bogs in Wisconsin.
Sporothrix cyanescens has been recovered from blood and a finger lesion at several medical centers in the United States. The morphology and physiology of these and three additional isolates were studied. S. cyanescens was distinguished from S. schencku and S. fungorum by white to lavender colonial pigmentation and from S. schenckii also by the formation of secondary conidia. Ail isolates of S. cyanescens grew well at 37°C, were cycloheximide susceptible, strongly urease positive, and benomyl resistant, failed to hydrolyze starch, and were inhibited by sodium chloride in vitro at a concentration of. 12%. Study of S. cyanescens in a murine model by using intravenous inoculation failed to demonstrate an invasive pathogenic potential. The validity of the transfer of S. cyanescens to the new genus Cerinosterus Moore is discussed.
Cokeromyces recurvatus Poitras was isolated from an endocervical specimen obtained from a 37-year-old, insulin-dependent diabetic. The patient's diabetic condition had been well controlled for 10 years, and she had no other known medical problem. This is only the fourth time that this zygomycete has been recovered from a human source. While there was no evidence of tissue invasion in the present patient, the observation of fungus-like structures in two separate Papanicolaou-stained cervical smears prepared 1 year apart suggests that C. recurvatus may be capable of colonizing endocervical tissue.
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