Trichosporon Asahii: An Unusual Cause of Invasive Infection in Neonates

Abstract

Trichosporon asahii causes white piedra, an infection of hair shafts and onychomycosis in immunocompetent patients, as well as various localized or disseminated invasive infections in immunodeficient hosts. We describe a 26-week gestation 890-g vaginally delivered female neonate who had severe respiratory distress syndrome and on the sixth day of life developed Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis. At the same time two blood cultures were positive for T. asahii. The neonate was also colonized with T. asahii in the pharynx and perineum. The infant was successfully treated with conventional amphotericin B.

Invasive Infections Caused byTrichosporonSpecies andGeotrichum capitatumin Patients with Hematological Malignancies: a Retrospective Multicenter Study from Italy and Review of the Literature

“…The 287 infections we assigned to the category of Trichosporon spp. included 28 cases (all reported after 1995) in which the yeast was identified, in accordance with the revised classification, as T. asahii (17 infections, including 10 in patients with hematological diseases) (1,16,26,36,58,81,84,98,131,132, plus 6 cases from the present series); T. inkin (5 infections, 2 in patients with hematological malignancies) (19,72,74,84,104); T. mucoides (4 infections, none involving patients with hematological malignancies) (45,92); and T. cutaneum or T. asteroides (each responsible for 1 infection, both involving patients with hematological malignancies) (18,66). The vast majority of G. capitatum and T. pullulans infections occurred in patients with hematological disease (91.7 and 75%, respectively).…”

Molecular Identification and Susceptibility ofTrichosporonSpecies Isolated from Clinical Specimens in Qatar: Isolation ofTrichosporon dohaenseTaj-Aldeen, Meis & Boekhout sp. nov

“…Disseminated Trichosporon infections are potentially lifethreatening and are often fatal in neutropenic patients (7,22). Although uncommon, pathogenic species of this genus have been reported increasingly, mostly in patients with malignant diseases (3,6,9,10,11,20,32,44,47,48,63,77), neonates (18,56,84), a bone marrow transplant recipient (22), a solid organ transplant recipient (50), and patients with human immunodeficiency virus (34,35,46). Trichosporon has also been reported to cause fungemia (5,9,25,29,30,33,53,62).…”

Identification of Medically Important Candida and Non- Candida Yeast Species by an Oligonucleotide Array

“…Fungemia caused by Trichosporon asahii was recently reported for a very low-birth-weight neonate (33).…”

“…However, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and antifungal agents for prophylaxis has led to a shift in the epidemiology and etiology of Candida and non-Candida yeast species infections (36,37). Infections caused by non-Candida albicans and other less-common emerging yeasts, such as Cryptococcus, Pichia, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, and Trichosporon, have been widely reported in recent years (8,12,13,19,31,33,34,45). The identification of yeast pathogens with this increasing diversity by conventional methods may be difficult and sometimes inconclusive (6).…”