Geographical distribution and ecological niche modeling of the etiological agents of human sporotrichosis in Venezuela

Abstract

The geographical distribution and ecological niche of the two circulating species of the Sporothrix genus in Venezuela was established. For this, 68 isolates of Sporothrix spp. from patients of different regions of the country were analyzed. A molecular taxonomy analysis was conducted using a fragment of the calmodulin gene (CAL), and ITS regions, confirming the presence of S. schenckii (62%) and S. globosa (38%). Computational models of ecological niche for each species were obtained by the maximum entropy method using the MaxEnt software, which predicted the best environmental conditions for the presence of the two species. These models predict that the main variables influencing the presence of S. schenckii were altitude and annual mean temperature, while for S. globosa, the more influent variable was the land use, with 82% of S. globosa located at urban areas vs 56% for S. schenckii. The results here presented could contribute to understand the specific environmental factors that might modulate the occurrence of Sporothrix spp. as well as its transmission. To our knowledge, our analyses show for the first time Sporothrix spp.-specific ecological niche data, a valuable tool to promote evidence-based public health policymaking within endemic areas of sporotrichosis.

Special issue on sporotrichosis: challenges to deal with the new emerging pathogenic species

“…Toriello et al [14] present a systematic review of sporotrichosis in Mexico that analyzes its epidemiology, geographic distribution, and diagnosis. Barreto et al [15] showed here the ecological niche of the two circulating species of the Sporothrix genus found in Venezuela. Rudramurthy et al [16] studied 63 cases of sporotrichosis of geographically diverse origin from India.…”

Epidemiology of Clinical Sporotrichosis in the Americas in the Last Ten Years

“…(100%) found in Uruguay [ 124 ]. Finally, there were 4 reports from Venezuela with 452 cases of Sporothrix spp., and the Sporothrix complex was found in 220 of those cases (48.67%), S. schenckii sensu lato in 130 (28.76%), S. schenckii in 42 (9.29%), S. schenckii sensu stricto in 17 (3.76%), S. globosa in 39 (8.63%), 1 case of Ophiostoma stenoceras (0.22%) and 3 cases were ND (0.66%) [ 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 ].…”

“…In Venezuela, Sporothrix spp. (80.04%), S. schenckii (13.38%), and S. globose (6.57%) were the types of Sporothrix agents [ 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 ].…”

Sporotrichosis Outbreak Due to Sporothrix brasiliensis in Domestic Cats in Magallanes, Chile: A One-Health-Approach Study

“…Currently, 53 Sporothrix species have been described [ 13 ], which are divided into two clades, one is “clinical or pathogenic”, isolated from human or animal cases; composed of S. schenckii of worldwide distribution, S. globosa is present in Argentina, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, China, Japan, USA, and India [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. S. luriei is present in South Africa and S. brasiliensis is restricted to South America [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. The remaining species are nested in an “environmental clade”, often associated with organic substrates such as soils with decaying plant remains, wood, or insects [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”