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The Molecular Identification and Antifungal Susceptibilities of Aspergillus Species Causing Otomycosis in Tochigi, Japan

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Abstract

Aspergillus species are the most common pathogenic fungi involved in otomycosis, an infection of the outer ear canal. In this study, we examined the incidence of Aspergillus infections and the antifungal susceptibilities of 30 Aspergillus species isolates from patients with otomycosis who visited Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital between August 2013 and July 2016. Based on the morphological test results, the strains were identified as Aspergillus niger sensu lato (20 strains), A. terreus sensu lato (7 strains), and A. fumigatus sensu lato (3 strains). In contrast, the molecular identifications based on analyzing the isolates’ partial β-tubulin gene sequences revealed them to be A. niger sensu stricto (12 strains), A. tubingensis (8 strains), A. terreus sensu stricto (7 strains), and A. fumigatus sensu stricto (3 strains). The antifungal susceptibility test results indicated that strains of A. tubingensis and A. niger sensu stricto displayed lower susceptibilities to ravuconazole, compared with the other isolates. The Aspergillus strains from this study showed low minimum inhibitory concentrations toward the azole-based drugs efinaconazole, lanoconazole, and luliconazole. Therefore, these topical therapeutic agents may be effective for the treatment of otomycosis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our colleagues in our laboratory at Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital for their help with this study. We thank Ms. Yoshiko Umeda, Laboratory Space and Environmental Medicine, Teikyo University, for technical assistance. We also thank Lesley Benyon, Ph.D., and Sandra Cheesman, Ph.D., from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript. This research was partially supported by the Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and development, AMED under Grant Number JP18fk0108008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Medical Technology, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Shigehiro Hagiwara & Koichi Makimura

  2. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, 911-1 Takebayashi-machi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 391-0974, Japan

    Shigehiro Hagiwara & Hitoshi Kamewada

  3. Medical Mycology Research Unit, Graduate School of Medicine, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Koichi Makimura

  4. General Medical Education and Research Center, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Takashi Tamura, Kazuo Satoh & Koichi Makimura

  5. Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, Tokyo, Japan

    Takashi Tamura, Kazuo Satoh, Hideyo Yamaguchi & Koichi Makimura

  6. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, 911-1 Takebayashi-machi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 391-0974, Japan

    Masayasu Nakano

  7. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, 911-1 Takebayashi-machi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 391-0974, Japan

    Seiichi Shinden

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  1. Shigehiro Hagiwara
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  2. Takashi Tamura
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Correspondence to Koichi Makimura.

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Hagiwara, S., Tamura, T., Satoh, K. et al. The Molecular Identification and Antifungal Susceptibilities of Aspergillus Species Causing Otomycosis in Tochigi, Japan. Mycopathologia 184, 13–21 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-018-0299-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-018-0299-9

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