Molecular Epidemiology of <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> in Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis Patients

Molecular fungal genotyping techniques developed and employed for epidemiological studies have understandably concentrated on establishing the genetic diversity of <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> in invasive aspergillosis due to its severity, the urgency for treatment, and the need to demon...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mireille H. van der Torre, Hongwei Shen, Riina Rautemaa-Richardson, Malcolm D. Richardson, Lilyann Novak-Frazer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
Series:Journal of Fungi
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/7/2/152
Description
Summary:Molecular fungal genotyping techniques developed and employed for epidemiological studies have understandably concentrated on establishing the genetic diversity of <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> in invasive aspergillosis due to its severity, the urgency for treatment, and the need to demonstrate possible sources. Some early studies suggested that these strains were phenotypically, if not genotypically, different from others. However, with improved discrimination and evaluations, incorporating environmental as well as clinical isolates from other <i>Aspergillus</i> conditions (e.g., chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and cystic fibrosis), this premise is no longer upheld. Moreover, with the onset of increased global triazole resistance, there has been a concerted effort to incorporate resistance profiling into genotyping studies and the realisation that the wider population of non-immunocompromised aspergillosis patients are at risk. This review summarises the developments in molecular genotyping studies that incorporate resistance profiling with attention to chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and an example of our UK experience.
ISSN:2309-608X