Abstract
Among 32 Trichosporon asahii isolates collected in four rounds of the Taiwan Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance of Yeasts (TSARY) studies, conducted in 1999, 2002, 2006, and 2010, five different intergenic spacer 1 (IGS1) genotypes were detected. Genotype 1 was the most common (43.8%), followed by genotypes 3 (28.1%), 7 (12.5%), 5 (9.4%), and 4 (6.3%). Interestingly, genotype 7 was more prevalent in Taiwan than in other areas (P = 0.01); while we did not find a significant association between IGS1 genotype and susceptibility to antifungal drugs, we did note that the majority of isolates of T. asahii were susceptible to both fluconazole and voriconazole, consistent with previous reports. A higher proportion of isolates (P = 0.05) collected in 2010 (4/12, 33.3%) had high amphotericin B MICs (≥ 2 mg/l) than those collected in the previous three TSARYs (1/21, 5%). Hence, the new data of genotypes and drug susceptibilities in the present study may contribute to the epidemiology of T. asahii.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Bristol Myers Squibb for supplying the reference powder of amphotericin B, and Pfizer for fluconazole and voriconazole. We thank Drs S.C. Kuo and T.L. Lauderdale for their helpful suggestions.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.
This work was supported in part by the NHRI fellowship research grant to MST and by grants 00A1-ID-PP-04-014 and 01A1-IV-PP-04-014 from NHRI to HJL and NSC-99-2320-B-009-001-My3 from National Science Council to YLY.
This paper was first published online on Early Online on 10 June 2013.