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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2001, p. 47-50, Vol. 39, No. 1
Division of Microbiology and Infectious
Diseases, The Western Australian Center for Pathology and Medical
Research (PathCentre),1 and Department
of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner
Hospital,2 Nedlands 6009, Australia
Received 28 March 2000/Returned for modification 10 May
2000/Accepted 11 October 2000
Respiratory tract colonization with Scedosporium
apiospermum in patients with chronic suppurative lung disease is
a significant concern for lung transplantation candidates, since
Scedosporium infections occurring posttransplantation are
usually untreatable. Up to 10% of patients with cystic fibrosis
attending our respiratory medicine unit have had
Scedosporium organisms isolated from sputum samples. We
therefore developed a molecular typing method to examine these
isolates. Typing by PCR amplification of ribosomal intergenic spacer
sequences demonstrated 20 different types from 52 isolates collected
from the respiratory medicine unit and elsewhere in Australia. A single
common type was isolated from 11 respiratory medicine unit inpatients.
Two other types were isolated from more than one source: one from two
respiratory medicine unit inpatients and one from two epidemiologically
linked nonhuman sources. Multiple isolates were obtained from nine
patients. This method demonstrated persistent carriage of isolates of
the same type in one patient for 7 months. Two patients showed carriage
of isolates with multiple typing patterns within a 3-month period. The
high rate of isolation and the predominance of isolates with a single
typing pattern from respiratory medicine unit patients may suggest
transmission to patients from a source in the unit. There was no
epidemiological evidence of direct patient-to-patient spread, and
Scedosporium organisms were not isolated from dust, soil,
or air samples from the unit. The source and route of transmission have
yet to be determined.
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.1.47-50.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Molecular Epidemiology of Scedosporium
apiospermum Infection Determined by PCR Amplification of Ribosomal
Intergenic Spacer Sequences in Patients with Chronic Lung
Disease
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Department of
Microbiology, St. John's Hospital, Howden Rd. West, Livingston EH54
6PP, Scotland. Phone: 44 1506 419666. Fax: 44 1506 460301. E-mail: Emma.Williamson{at}wlt.scot.nhs.uk.
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