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During the course of independent studies in Europe, North America, and Africa, seven yeast strains were isolated from insect frass, decaying wood, tree flux, and olive oil sediment. Phylogenetic analysis of two barcoding DNA regions (internal transcribed spacer and the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rRNA gene) revealed that they belong to two closely related undescribed species distinct from all genera in the family Debaryomycetaceae. For reliable taxonomic placement the genomes of four strains of the two novel species and six type strains of closely related species were sequenced. Orthologous genes from 54 genomes of representatives of the Pichiomycetes and 23 outgroup taxa were concatenated to construct a fully supported phylogenetic tree. Consistent with the assumptions, we found that the two new species belong to a novel genus. In addition, the delimitation of the novel species was supported by genetic distance calculations from average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA:DNA hybridization (dDDH) values. The physiological characterization of the novel species was generally consistent with their genomic content. All strains had two alleles encoding secretory lipase in either two or three copies depending on the species. However, lipolytic activity was detected only in strains with three copies of the secretory lipase gene. Nevertheless, lipolytic activity might be related to their association with the insect gut. Based on these results, formal descriptions of the new genus Rasporella gen. nov. and of two new species Rasporella dianae sp. nov. (holotype UCDFST 68‐643T, MycoBank no.: 850238) and Rasporella oleae sp. nov. (holotype ZIM 2471T, MycoBank no.: 850126) are provided. Take‐away: A new genus within the Debaryomycetaceae family, Rasporella gen. nov. is described along with two new yeast species.The accommodation of the new genus is supported by a phylogenomic analysis involving 77 taxa.Both new species possess genes encoding secretory lipase, but only strains of Rasporella dianae exhibited the ability to degrade olive oil under laboratory conditions.While one of the strains was isolated from olive oil, it was found to be a transient habitat, as most of the other strains were associated with insect frass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Candida wangnamkhiaoensis is a species clustered under the Hyphopichia clade has not ever been isolated from any clinical specimens. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. wangnamkhiaoensis associated with fungaemia in immunocompromised paediatric patient. The isolate was assigned a strain name as UZ1679/14, in which the identification was confirmed by a polymerase chain reaction-sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer ( ITS) and large subunit ( LSU) regions of the rRNA gene. Antifungal susceptibility pattern showed that the isolate was sensitive to anidulafungin, caspofungin, fluconazole and voriconazole. The patient clinically improved after the antifungal treatment with caspofungin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The isolation of yeast species other than Candida albicans from the oral mucosa has been increasing in frequency, suggesting that those may constitute emerging potential oral colonizers. The purpose of this work was to determine whether yeast species other than C. albicans are associated with factors related to wearing of dental prostheses. Materials and Methods tRNA-PCR fingerprinting and sequencing of the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain were used to identify all yeasts isolated from CHROMagar™ Candida cultures of oral swabs collected from 178 patients. Results Besides C. albicans, 13 other species were identified, corresponding to 34% of the yeast isolates. The majority of the non- C. albicans species were not detected as single colonizers but rather in co-colonization with one or two other yeasts, often with C. albicans. No significant associations were found with non- C. albicans species. On the contrary, the best-fitted logistic regression model predicts that either wearing a denture (adjusted odds = 4.6) or insufficient oral hygiene (adjusted odds = 2.3) are risks for colonization by yeast, in general. Conclusions The colonization with non- C. albicans species and co-colonization were not independently associated with any of the analyzed host-related factors. In particular, neither wearing a removable denture nor being elderly were significant predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on medical topics which include the antifungal activity of isavuconazole to Madurella mycetomatis, antibacterial activity of bifonazole to Corynebacterium minutissimum, and antibiofilm activity of Allium sativum extract to biofilm formed from Candida sp.

Summary The current study was conducted to know the incidence, predisposing factors, spectrum, clinical profile and antifungal susceptibility (AFS) of fungal wound infection (FWI) in burn patients. Of a total of 71 patients, 20 (28.2%) emerged with the diagnosis of FWI. Fungal pathogens in this study were Candida tropicalis (14%), Candida parapsilosis (5.6%), Aspergillus niger (2.8%) and one each of Candida albicans (1.4%), Candida glabrata (1.4%), Syncephalestrum (1.4%) and Fusarium solani (1.4%). All patients with mould infections expired before the mycological culture results could be conveyed to clinicians. Of the yeasts isolated in the study, one each of C. tropicalis and C. albicans showed cross-resistance to azoles. All the moulds were susceptible to amphotericin B. This study depicted that fungal invasion is associated with a high mortality, burn size 30-60% and high incidence of inhalational injury. Fungal invasion was detected on an average of 14 days after injury. Association of use of four classes of drugs - aminoglycosides, imipenem, vancomycin and third generation cephalosporins and use of total parenteral nutrition was observed. Expedient laboratory diagnosis of FWI and appropriate systemic antifungal therapy guided by AFS may improve outcome for severely injured burn victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first report in 1998, 10 cases of Pichia ohmeri infection have been reported in the literature. Here we present two new cases of P. ohmeri infection in the paediatric age group. The first case was an 8-month-old male infant, who was admitted with fever, convulsions and altered consciousness. Conservative therapy was started with a presumptive diagnosis of encephalitis. The patient failed to respond to the given treatments and died on the 21st day of hospitalisation. The second case was a 10-year-old male with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. He was hospitalised with neutropenic fever. He was discharged after 3 weeks of therapy. In both cases P. ohmeri was identified in blood samples. Growing evidence indicates that P. ohmeri should be added to the lengthening list of opportunistic fungal pathogens that can cause infection in all ages, including infants, and particularly in those who are immunocompromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]