title: A 1-year Aspergillus terreus surveillance study at the University Hospital of Innsbruck: molecular typing of environmental and clinical isolates.
abstract: Aspergillus terreus appears to have become an increasingly frequent cause of opportunistic infections in the University Hospital of Innsbruck (UHI) and is of serious concern because of in vivo and in vitro resistance to amphotericin B. In order to determine the possible relationship between environmental contamination by A. terreus and the occurrence of invasive aspergillosis, a 1-year prospective study (2004-2005) was carried out in the UHI. Isolates obtained from air samples of various high-risk settings and those from surveillance cultures of proven and probable aspergillosis (EORTC/MSG criteria) were examined by genotyping. Within 1 year, 34 and 15 A. terreus isolates were collected from the environment and from patients, respectively. Genotypic analysis with rapid amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR and the combination of three different primers (R108, CII, P4) revealed 46 distinct genotypic profiles (types 1-46). No strain similarity was detected among and within the patients and environmental areas, indicating a great genomic diversity in A. terreus, which is common in the environment of Innsbruck and a source of invasive infections in immunosuppressed patients. Genotypical diversity was found in clinical and environmental A. terreus isolates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Microbiology and Social Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perkhofer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grif
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mayr
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kropshofer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nachbaur
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kafka-Ritsch
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Dierich
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lass-Flörl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001317:Austria; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal