Spiromastigoides asexualis: Phylogenetic Analysis and Evaluation as a Cause of False-Positive Blastomyces DNA Probe Test Results

Minh-Vu H Nguyen; Nathan P Wiederhold; Connie Cañete-Gibas; Carmita Sanders; George R Thompson 3rd

doi:10.1128/JCM.01325-20

Spiromastigoides asexualis: Phylogenetic Analysis and Evaluation as a Cause of False-Positive Blastomyces DNA Probe Test Results

J Clin Microbiol. 2020 Nov 18;58(12):e01325-20. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01325-20. Print 2020 Nov 18.

Authors

Minh-Vu H Nguyen¹, Nathan P Wiederhold², Connie Cañete-Gibas², Carmita Sanders², George R Thompson 3rd^{3

4

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California-Davis Health, Davis, CA, USA.
² Fungus Testing Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California-Davis Health, Davis, CA, USA [email protected].
⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
⁵ UC-Davis Center for Coccidioidomycosis, Davis, CA, USA.

Abstract

This is the first case of Spiromastigoides asexualis human infection, and it notably gave a false-positive Blastomyces DNA probe laboratory result. We further investigated other Spiromastigoides isolates as a cause of false-positive testing results, their phylogenetic relationship, and their susceptibility profiles to clinically available antifungal agents. Other S. asexualis isolates also resulted in positive Blastomyces DNA probe results, while Spiromastigoides species other than S. asexualis did not.

Keywords: Blastomyces; DNA probe; Spiromastigoides; blastomycosis; false-positive; fungal; fungus; mold; novel; phylogenetic; phylogenetics.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use
Blastomyces* / genetics
Blastomycosis* / diagnosis
Blastomycosis* / drug therapy
DNA Probes
Humans
Phylogeny

Substances

Antifungal Agents
DNA Probes