Investigation of a Lomentospora prolificans case cluster with whole genome sequencing

Peter Boan; Stanley Pang; Dianne J Gardam; Helen Darragh; Matthew Wright; Geoffrey W Coombs

doi:10.1016/j.mmcr.2020.05.003

Investigation of a Lomentospora prolificans case cluster with whole genome sequencing

Med Mycol Case Rep. 2020 May 19:29:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.mmcr.2020.05.003. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Authors

Peter Boan^{1

2}, Stanley Pang³, Dianne J Gardam², Helen Darragh², Matthew Wright^{1

2}, Geoffrey W Coombs^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Fiona Stanley Hospital, 11 Robin Warren Ave, Murdoch, Perth, 6150, Australia.
² PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA, 11 Robin Warren Ave, Murdoch, Perth, 6150, Australia.
³ Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch, Perth, 6150, Australia.

Abstract

Lomentospora prolificans has caused outbreaks in immunocompromised patients. We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) on 4 L. prolificans isolates from infections occurring during an 8-month period in the haematology unit at Hospital 1., and 2 isolates from unrelated infections at Hospital 2., showing a high number of mutational differences (>10,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms) between L. prolificans isolates from Hospital 1. Novel typing of isolates by WGS did not demonstrate a single causative strain.

Keywords: Antifungal resistance; Fungal outbreak; Lomentospora prolificans; Scedosporium prolificans; Whole genome sequencing.