Emerging Infectious Diseases (Jan 2022)

Fungal Infections Caused by Kazachstania spp., Strasbourg, France, 2007–2020

  • Charlotte Kaeuffer,
  • Mathieu Baldacini,
  • Tiffany Ruge,
  • Yvon Ruch,
  • Yves-Jean Zhu,
  • Manon De Cian,
  • Guillaume Philouze,
  • Philippe Bachellier,
  • Julie Denis,
  • Nicolas Lefebvre,
  • Francis Schneider,
  • Yves Hansmann,
  • Valérie Letscher-Bru,
  • Raoul Herbrecht,
  • Marcela Sabou,
  • François Danion

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2801.211543
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 28, no. 1
pp. 29 – 34

Abstract

Read online

Rare fungal pathogens are emerging as agents of invasive fungal infections. We analyzed 13 cases of fungal infections caused by Kazachstania (Arxiozyma) spp. in Strasbourg University Hospital, Strasbourg, France. Among the cases, 4 patients had proven fungal disease (3 cases of invasive fungal disease and 1 mucocutaneous infection) and 9 were colonized by Kazachstania (Arxiozyma) spp. Candida albicans was also isolated from 11 of the 13 patients. None of the patients with proven invasive fungal disease met host criteria, but most had underlying diseases. All strains were identified as K. telluris by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and 3 were confirmed as K. bovina by internal transcribed spacer sequencing. For all tested strains, the MICs for fluconazole were >2 μg/mL. Emergence of this rare fungal infection might be explained by the increasing number of patients with immunocompromised conditions and gastroesophageal diseases.

Keywords