Trichosporon species isolated from the perigenital region, urine and catheters of a Brazilian population

Abstract

The present study aimed to 1) determine the colonization rates of medically important Trichosporon species on normal perigenital skin and 2) determine the isolation rates of Trichosporon spp. isolated from the urine and catheters of Brazilian patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The overall colonization rate of Trichosporon spp. was 11.15% (112 isolates). The most common species isolated from normal perigenital skin was T. cutaneum (29.46%), followed by T. asteroides (20.53%), T. ovoides (15.17%), T. inkin (10.71%), T. mucoides (8.92%), and T. asahii (6.25%). From urine and catheters, T.asahii was the species most commonly isolated (76.5%; n =23), followed by T. inkin (16.6%; n = 5) and T. asteroides (6.6%; n = 2). In addition, the highest isolation rate occurred in subjects in the 71-to 80-yearold age range (36.7%; n= 11), followed by 61 to 70 (26.7%; n = 8), 51 to 60 (13.3%; n = 4), 31 to 40 (13.33%; n = 4), and 41 to 50 (10%; n =3). We concluded that 6 medically important species of the genus Trichosporon colonize the perigenital region in a normal population. The identification of these species is possible by means of classical methods but often requires repeated analyses repetitions due to difficulties in the assimilation process. In contrast, only 3 species of Trichosporon were isolated from urine and catheters.

Molecular evidence that the opportunistic fungal pathogen Trichosporon asahii is part of the normal fungal microbiota of the human gut based on rRNA genotyping

“…3 Large studies conducted in Japan (380 cases) and Brazil (1004 cases) have suggested that Trichosporon species are part of the fungal microbiota of healthy human skin. 5,6 The Japanese study also revealed that T. asahii genotype 1 predominated in skin samples. T. asahii has been isolated from various body sites: the gut, oral cavity, sputum, skin, catheter, and blood.…”

Prevalence of low inflammatory tinea genitalis in southern China

“…Scrotal infection due to T. asteroides was not reported previously in the literature . In a recent Brazilian study, 1004 healthy male volunteers were examined, and in 20.53% T. asteroides was found to asymptomatically colonise their perigenital skin . The closely related T. inkin is an agent of crural white piedra, suggesting that the two species have a predilection for the crural microclimate, explaining occasional overgrowth on the scrotal by T. asteroides .…”

Current Knowledge of Trichosporon spp. and Trichosporonosis

“…In humans, these fungal species occasionally are part of the gastrointestinal and oral cavity microbiota and can transiently colonize the respiratory tract and skin (22,60,68,76,101,108,170,186,188,189). Recently, Silvestre et al found that 11% of their 1,004 healthy male volunteers were colonized by Trichosporon species on their normal perigenital skin (scrotal, perianal, and inguinal sites of the body) (165).…”