Skip to main content

Molecular identification of clinical and environmental avian Aspergillus isolates

Archives of Microbiology volume 201, pages 253–257 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Aspergillosis causes high morbidity and mortality in avian species. The main goal of this study was to use molecular techniques to identify Aspergillus species collected from different avian species with aspergillosis. A subsample of those isolates was also screened for resistance to itraconazole. Over a 2-year period, clinical samples were recovered from 44 birds with clinical signs of the disease, clinical pathology results suspicious of aspergillosis, or from birds that died from Aspergillus spp. infection. Environmental sampling was also performed in seabird rehabilitation centers and natural seabird environments. Seventy-seven isolates (43 clinical and 34 environmental) were identified as Aspergillus fumigatus sensu stricto. No cryptic species from the Fumigati section were detected. Two environmental isolates were identified as Aspergillus nidulans var. dentatus and Aspergillus spinulosporus. None of the Aspergillus isolates tested were resistant to itraconazole. Our study emphasizes the dominant association of Aspergillus fumigatus sensu stricto in avian mycoses and shows the lack of itraconazole resistance in the studied isolates.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

References

  • Arné P, Thierry S, Wang D, Deville M, Le Loc’h G, Desoutter A, Féménia F, Nieguitsila A, Huang W, Chermette R, Guillot J (2011) Aspergillus fumigatus in poultry. Int J Microbiol 746356:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/746356 (review article)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balajee SA, Gribskov JL, Hanley E, Nickle D, Marr KA (2005) Aspergillus lentulus sp. nov., a new sibling species of A. fumigatus. Eukaryot Cell 4:625–632

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barton JT, Daft BM, Read DH, Kinde H, Bickford AA (1992) Tracheal aspergillosis in 6 1/2-week-old chickens caused by Aspergillus flavus. Avian Dis 36:1081–1085

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beernaert LA, Pasmans F, Van Waeyenberghe L, Dorrestein GM, Verstappen F, Vercammen F, Haesebrouck F, Martel A (2009) Avian Aspergillus fumigatus strains resistant to both itraconazole and voriconazole. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 53:2199–2201

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Beernaert L, Pasmans F, Van Waeyenberghe L, Haesebrouck F, Martel A (2010) Aspergillus infections in birds: a review. Avian Pathol 39:325–331

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burco JD, Massey JG, Byrne BA, Tell L, Clemons KV, Ziccardi MH (2014) Monitoring of fungal loads in seabird rehabilitation centers with comparisons to natural seabird environments in northern California. J Zoo Wildl Med 45:29–40

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friend M, Franson JC, Aspergillosis (1999) In Friend M, Franson J, Ciganovich EA (eds) Field manual of wildlife diseases: general field procedures and diseases of birds. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, USA, pp 129–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidenreich M (1997) Birds of prey: medicine and management. Blackwell Science, Nova Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph V (2000) Aspergillosis in raptors. Semin Avian Exot Pet Med 9:66–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozakiewicz Z, Smith D (1994) Physiology of Aspergillus. In: Smith JE (ed) Aspergillus. Springer, Boston, pp 23–40

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lamoth F (2016) Aspergillus fumigatus-related species in clinical practice. Front Microbiol 7:683. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00683

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Morio F, Aubin GG, Danner-Boucher I, Haloun A, Sacchetto E, Garcia-Hermoso D, Bretagne S, Miegeville M, Le Pape P (2012) High prevalence of triazole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus, especially mediated by TR/L98H, in a French cohort of patients with cystic fibrosis. J Antimicrob Chemother 67:1870–1873

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinzinger R, Preßmar A, Schleucher E (1991) Body temperature in birds. Comp Biochem Physiol 99:499–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn PJ, Carter ME, Markey BK, Carter GR (1994) Clinical veterinary microbiology, 1st edn. Wolfe Publishing, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Raper KB, Fennell DI (1965) The genus Aspergillus, 1st edn. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabino R, Veríssimo C, Parada H, Brandão J, Viegas C, Carolino E, Clemons KV, Stevens DA (2014) Molecular screening of 246 Portuguese Aspergillus isolates among different clinical and environmental sources. Med Mycol 52:519–529

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sabino R, Carolino E, Verissimo C, Martinez M, Clemons KV, Stevens DA (2016) Antifungal susceptibility of 175 Aspergillus isolates from various clinical and environmental sources. Med Mycol 54:740–756

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sabino R, Simões H, Francisco M, Viegas C, Toscano C, Batista J, Ferreira T, Veríssimo C (2017) Aspergillus section Fumigati—Epidemiological trends—a perspective from a National Reference Laboratory. Mycoses 60(S2):131–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/myc.12675 P160. 8th Trends in Medical Mycology, 6–9 October 2017, Belgrade, Serbia

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang D, Gricourt M, Arné P, Séguin D, Chermette R, Huang W, Botterel F, Guillot J (2012) May avian farms constitute a source of azole resistant Aspergillus fumigatus? 5th advances against aspergillosis, Istanbul, Turkey, Abstr. No. 8

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Spencer Jang and Anita Wong for their assistance with gathering the clinical isolates.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. URSZ-Infectious Diseases Department, Nacional Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Av. Padre Cruz, 1649-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Raquel Sabino, Joana Valente & Cristina Veríssimo

  2. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Julia Burco

  3. Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologia da Biomassa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Joana Valente

  4. Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Karl V. Clemons & David A. Stevens

  5. California Institute for Medical Research, San Jose, CA, USA

    Karl V. Clemons & David A. Stevens

  6. Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Lisa A. Tell

Authors
  1. Raquel Sabino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia Burco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joana Valente
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cristina Veríssimo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Karl V. Clemons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. David A. Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lisa A. Tell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raquel Sabino.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Communicated by Olaf Kniemeyer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sabino, R., Burco, J., Valente, J. et al. Molecular identification of clinical and environmental avian Aspergillus isolates. Arch Microbiol 201, 253–257 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01618-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01618-y

Keywords

  • Aspergillus
  • Cryptic species
  • Birds
  • Aspergillosis
  • Drug susceptibility