Emergomyces africanus in Soil, South Africa

Publication

Domain

Fellow

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 24, No. 2, February 2018

lan S. Schwartz , Barbra Lerm, J. Claire Hoving, Chris Kenyon, William G. Horsnell, W. Joan Basson, Patricia Otieno-Odhiambo, Nelesh P. Govender, Robert Colebunders, and Alfred Botha

Author affiliations: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (I.S. Schwartz); University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium (I.S. Schwartz, R. Colebunders); Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa (B. Lerm, W.J. Basson, A. Botha); University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa (J.C. Hoving, C. Kenyon, W.G. Horsnell, P. Otieno-Odhiambo, N.P. Govender); Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp (C. Kenyon); University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (W.G. Horsnell); CNRS-University of Orleans and Le Studium Institute for Advanced Studies, Orléans, France (W.G. Horsnell); National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa (N.P. Govender)

Abstract

We detected Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungus that causes an HIV-associated systemic mycosis, by PCR in 18 (30%) of 60 soil samples from a wide range of habitats in South Africa. Direct and indirect culture techniques were unsuccessful. Experimental intraperitoneal inoculation of conidia induced murine disease.

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Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal