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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 1999, p. 3481-3486, Vol. 37, No. 11
Department of Bacteriology and Medical
Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome,
Italy,1 and Department of
Immunology, Microbiology and Parasitology, Medical Faculty,
Universidad del Paìs Vasco, Bilbao, Spain2
Received 12 April 1999/Returned for modification 28 June
1999/Accepted 28 July 1999
The biotype and virulence of skin isolates of Candida
parapsilosis were compared with blood isolates of the same
fungus. Morphotype, resistotype, and electrophoretic karyotype
determinations did not reveal any special cluster with a unique or
dominant pathogenic feature among all of the isolates, regardless of
their source. However, all cutaneous isolates had uniformly elevated
secretory aspartyl-protease (Sap) activity, more than four times higher than the enzyme activity of the blood isolates. They were also highly
vaginopathic in a rat vaginitis model, being significantly more
virulent than blood isolates in this infection model. In contrast, skin
isolates were nonpathogenic in systemic infection of
cyclophosphamide-immunodepressed mice, while some blood isolates were,
in this model, highly pathogenic (median survival time, 2 days, with
internal organ invasion at autopsy). Finally, skin isolates did not
differ, as a whole, from blood isolates in their adherence to plastic.
This property was associated with a morphotype, as defined by a colony
with continuous fringe, which was present among both skin and blood
isolates. While confirming the genetic heterogenicity of C. parapsilosis, our data strongly suggest that the potential of
this fungus to cause mucosal disease is associated with Sap production
and is substantially distinct from that of systemic invasion.
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Biotyping and Virulence Properties of Skin Isolates of
Candida parapsilosis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Bacteriology and Medical Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità,
Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. Phone: 39-06-49387113. Fax: 39-06-49387112. E-mail: cassone{at}iss.it.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 1999, p. 3481-3486, Vol. 37, No. 11
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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