| Title | Infectious Keratitis Caused by Aspergillus tubingensis. | | Author(s) | Kredics L, Varga J, Kocsubé S, Rajaraman R, Raghavan A, Dóczi I, Bhaskar M, Németh TM, Antal Z, Venkatapathy N, Vágvölgyi C, Samson RA, Chockaiya M, Palanisamy M | | Institution | From the *Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary; daggerApplied and Industrial Mycology Department, CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands; double daggerDepartment of Microbiology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India; section signDepartment of Clinical Microbiology and Diagnostics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary; paragraph signDepartment of Microbiology, Coimbatore Medical College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India; and ||Department of Botany & Microbiology, A.V.V.M. Sri Pushpam College, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. | | Source | Cornea 2009 Aug 1. | | Abstract | PURPOSE:: To report 2 cases of keratomycosis caused by Aspergillus tubingensis.
METHODS:: The therapeutic courses were recorded for 2 male patients, 52 and 78 years old, with fungal keratitis caused by black Aspergillus strains. Morphological examination of the isolates was carried out on malt extract agar plates. A segment of the beta-tubulin gene was used for molecular identification. Antifungal susceptibilities were determined by the E test method for molds and the broth microdilution technique National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards M38-A.
RESULTS:: A 52-year-old man presented with complaints of pain and redness in the right eye. The patient was successfully treated with natamycin and econazole eyedrops, itraconazole eye ointment, and oral ketoconazole. A 78-year-old man presented with total corneal necrosis in the right eye. A therapeutic keratoplasty was performed, and topical natamycin and econazole were applied. At the postoperative visit after 3 weeks, almost the full corneal graft was clear with formed anterior chamber. Black Aspergillus strains were isolated from the corneal scrapings of both cases and initially identified as Aspergillus niger based on culture characteristics. Sequence analysis of a segment of the beta-tubulin gene revealed that the isolates are representatives of A. tubingensis.
CONCLUSIONS:: Aspergillus tubingensis is closely related with A. niger, the differentiation of these 2 species is difficult by classical morphological criteria. To our knowledge, the presented cases of fungal keratitis are the first reports on ocular infection caused by A. tubingensis. | | Language | ENG | | Pub Type(s) | JOURNAL ARTICLE
| | PubMed ID | 19654512 |
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