Epidemiological profile and antifungal susceptibility pattern of Trichosporon species in a tertiary care hospital in Chandigarh, India.

Background and purpose: Trichosporon species are ubiquitous in nature which are associated with fatal opportunistic invasive infections, especially in immunocompromised patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical details, as well as the antifungal susceptibility pattern of the patients with Trichosporon infections.

Materials and methods: In total, 50 clinical isolates of Trichosporon species from various samples were included in this study. The samples were isolated over a period of 18 months from patients in a tertiary hospital in North India. The isolates were characterised phenotypically with Vitek MS (bioMérieux, France). Trichosporon spp. were isolated from urine (30%), nail (30%), tissue (16%), pleural fluid (14%), and sputum (5%). In total, majority of the isolates were of Trichosporon asahii (92%), followed by Trichosporon mucoides (6%), and Trichosporon ovoides (2%). It is noteworthy that most of the reported cases were from intensive care unit (34%).

Results: Intravenous catheters, antibiotics, and antifungal uptake were significantly associated risk factors with Trichosporon infection. All invasive isolates were observed to be resistant in vitro to caspofungin and exhibited high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against amphotericin B, fluconazole, and 5-flucytosine. The MICs for voriconazole and posaconazole were low.

Conclusion: Trichosporonosis is being increasingly reported all around the world, including India. The results of this study highlighted the importance of early detection and treatment for this emerging yeast and also added to the ongoing surveillance for the antifungal susuceptibility pattern for this fungus.