Isolation of fungi from bats of the Amazon basin.
A total of 2,886 bats captured in the Amazon Basin of Brazil were processed for the isolation of fungi. From the livers, spleens, and lungs of 155 bats (5.4%), 186 fungal isolates of the genera Candida (123 isolates), Trichosporon (26 isolates), Torulopsis (25 isolates), Kluyveromyces (11 isolates), and Geotrichum (1 isolate) were recovered. Seven known pathogenic species were present: Candida parapsilosis, C. guilliermondii, C. albicans, C. stellatoidea, C. pseudotropicalis, Trichosporon beigelii, and Torulopsis glabrata. Twenty-three culture-positive bats showed identical fungal colonization in multiple organs or mixed colonization in a single organ. The fungal isolation rates for individual bat species varied from 1 fungus per 87 bats to 3 fungi per 13 bats, and the mycoflora diversity for members of an individual fungus-bearing bat species varied from 16 fungi per 40 bats to 7 fungi per 6 bats. Of the 38 fungal species isolated, 36 had not been previously described as in vivo bat isolates. Of the 27 culture-positive bat species, 21 had not been previously described as mammalian hosts for medically or nonmedically important fungi.
D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005848:Geotrichum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology