Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2016 | Case report
A case report of a cystic fibrosis patient with repeated isolation of Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans identified by a novel short-extraction method
Authors:
Daniel Goldenberger, Vladimira Hinić, Spasenija Savic Prince, Michael Tamm, Anna-Maria Balestra, Doris Hohler, Reno Frei
Published in:
BMC Infectious Diseases
|
Issue 1/2016
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Abstract
Background
Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans is a recently described yeast-like fungal organism and its association as a pathogen for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) was reported previously. We show the clinical course of a CF patient over 9 years as well as the applications of modern molecular and proteomic identification techniques of this rare fungus.
Case presentation
We present the case of a 32-year-old male CF patient with sputum cultures continuously positive with the anamorphic yeast T. mycotoxinivorans during 9 years. Furthermore, susceptibility testing of T. mycotoxinivorans to different antifungals were performed. In addition, a rapid identification method of this novel fungal pathogen with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was applied using a simple extraction protocol.
Conclusions
Our case presentation confirms T. mycotoxinivorans as a potential emerging pathogen in patients with CF. However, our CF patient showed mild symptoms over a very long time period of 9 years. A short MALDI-TOF MS procedure allows reliable and rapid identification of T. mycotoxinivorans and therefore should facilitate further study on the clinical relevance and epidemiology of this unusual fungal organism.