Distribution of Aspergillus Species and Prevalence of Azole Resistance in Respiratory Samples From Swiss Tertiary Care Hospitals

Silvio Ragozzino; Daniel Goldenberger; Patrick R Wright; Stefan Zimmerli; Konrad Mühlethaler; Dionysios Neofytos; Arnaud Riat; Katia Boggian; Oliver Nolte; Anna Conen; Hans Fankhauser; Peter W Schreiber; Reinhard Zbinden; Frederic Lamoth; Nina Khanna

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab638

Distribution of Aspergillus Species and Prevalence of Azole Resistance in Respiratory Samples From Swiss Tertiary Care Hospitals

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Dec 18;9(2):ofab638. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab638. eCollection 2022 Feb.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Clinical Bacteriology and Mycology, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
³ Clinical Trial Unit, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Infectious Diseases, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Clinical Microbiology, Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ Division of Laboratory Medicine, Laboratory of Bacteriology, University Hospital Geneva and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁸ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland.
⁹ Center for Laboratory Medicine, St Gallen, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene, Cantonal Hospital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.
¹¹ Clinical Microbiology, Cantonal Hospital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.
¹² Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹³ Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁴ Infectious Diseases Service and Institute of Microbiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Among 400 Aspergillus species from respiratory samples in Switzerland, Aspergillus fumigatus was the most frequent species. Non-fumigatus Aspergillus spp were more prevalent among solid organ transplant recipients and after azole exposure. Azole resistance was detected in 4 A fumigatus isolates, 3 of them with the "environmental" mutation TR₃₄/L98H in the cyp51A gene.

Keywords: Aspergillus fumigatus; TR34/L98H mutation; azole resistance; cyp51A gene; non-fumigatus Aspergillus spp.