Two Cases of Skin Mycosis Due to Hanseniaspora Opuntiae and Cutaneotrichosporon Mucoides at Basrah Southern of Iraq

Mycoses of the skin are a group of infections that affect the skin and its appendages, mainly caused by dermatophytic fungi, and may be caused by yeasts or rearly by non-dermatophytic molds. Skin swabs collected from 60 patients attending the Dermatology Clinics at Madinah Central Hospital and Al-Fayhaa General Hospital in Basrah province from October 2021 to March 2022 were surveyed for the presence of dermatomycoses. Direct microscopical examination was carried out with 15% KOH, and repeated cultures were performed on Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol showed the same colonies. In this paper,we present two interesting cases in which Hanseniaspora opuntiae HAM17 and Cutaneotrichosporon mucoides HAM14 can be distinctly identified as causative agent of cutaneous mycoses. In the first case, we describe a new etiologic agent, Hanseniaspora opuntiae HAM17, which was implicated in a cutaneous infection in a 45-year-old woman with a history of diabetes mellitus, and to the best of our knowledege, it represents the fourth clinical case due to this fungus in the world. The second case involved cutaneous mycosis due to Cutaneotrichosporon mucoides HAM14 in a 23-year-old woman showed inflammatory lesions similar to acne on the back, and she was suffering from hormonal disorders. This case and the etiologic agent are reported for the first time in Iraq. The isolated yeast species were examined and purified for phenotypic identification and genetical analysis using the primers ITS1-ITS4. Sequences were deposited into Japanese Genbank as new strains under accession numbers LC722487 and LC722484.