Clinical outcomes in cystic fibrosis patients with Trichosporon respiratory infection

Abstract

Background: Relationships between clinical outcomes and novel respiratory pathogens such as Trichosporon are not well understood.

Methods: Respiratory cultures from CF patients were screened for novel pathogens Trichosporon and Chryseobacterium as well as other pathogens over 28months. Relationships between microbiologic and clinical data were assessed using univariate and multivariate methods.

Results: Of 4934 respiratory cultures from 474 CF patients, 37 cultures from 10 patients were Trichosporon positive. Patients with positive Trichosproron cultures had a greater decline in FEV1 over time (-3.9%/year vs. -1.3%/year, p<0.05), whereas Chryseobacterium did not influence lung function. These findings were confirmed in multivariate analyses that included age, gender, and other common pathogens as confounders. Treatment of Trichosporon infected patients was associated with improved lung function.

Conclusions: Trichosporon can be recovered from a small but clinically meaningful fraction of CF patients. The presence of Trichosporon, but not Chryseobacterium, is associated with greater declines in lung function.

Keywords: Chryseobacterium; lung function.