Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

A Case Report of Penile Infection Caused by Fluconazole- and Terbinafine-Resistant Candida albicans

  • Published:
Mycopathologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Candida albicans is the most common pathogen that causes balanoposthitis. It often causes recurrence of symptoms probably due to its antifungal resistance. A significant number of balanitis Candida albicans isolates are resistant to azole and terbinafine antifungal agents in vitro. However, balanoposthitis caused by fluconazole- and terbinafine-resistant Candida albicans has rarely been reported. Here, we describe a case of a recurrent penile infection caused by fluconazole- and terbinafine-resistant Candida albicans, as well as the treatments administered to this patient. The isolate from the patient was tested for drug susceptibility in vitro. It was sensitive to itraconazole, voriconazole, clotrimazole and amphotericin B, but not to terbinafine and fluconazole. Thus, oral itraconazole was administrated to this patient with resistant Candida albicans penile infection. The symptoms were improved, and mycological examination result was negative. Follow-up treatment of this patient for 3 months showed no recurrence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dockerty WG, Sonnex C. Candidal balano-posthitis: a study of diagnostic methods. Genitourin Med. 1995;71(6):407–9.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Alsterholm M, Flytström I, Leifsdottir R, et al. Frequency of bacteria, Candida and malassezia species in balanoposthitis. Acta Derm Venereol. 2008;88(4):331–6.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Lisboa C, Ferreira A, Resende C, Rodrigues AG. Infectious balanoposthitis: management, clinical and laboratory features. Int J Dermatol. 2009;48(2):121–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Hombalkar NN, Vaze D, Guha P, et al. Devastating penile mycosis leading to penile gangrene. Urology. 2013;82(3):704–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Li Bing-Kun, Wang Xiang, Ding Qiang. A case report of severe Aspergillus flavus penile infection. Asian J Androl. 2009;11(5):638–40.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Odds Frank C. In Candida albicans, resistance to flucytosine and terbinafine is linked to MAT locus homozygosity and multilocus sequence typing clade1. FEMS Yeast Res. 2009;9(7):1091–101.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Cernicka Jana, Subik Julius. Resistance mechanisms in fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans isolates from vaginal candidiasis. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2006;27(5):403–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Seifi Z, Azish M, Salehi Z, et al. Candiduria in children and susceptibility patterns of recovered Candida species to antifungal drugs in Ahvaz. J Nephropathol. 2013;2(2):122–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Staniszewska M, Bondaryk M, Swoboda-Kopec E, et al. Candida albicans morphologies revealed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. Braz J Microbiol. 2013;44(3):813–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Yang Y, Hu Y, Zhang J, et al. A refractory case of chromoblastomycosis caused by Fonsecaea monorphora. Med Mycol. 2012;50(6):649–53.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lee SC, Lee CW, Shih HJ, et al. Risk factors of mortality and comparative in vitro efficacy of anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin for candidemia. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2014;47(3):245–53.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Perea S, López-Ribot JL, Kirkpatrick WR, et al. Prevalence of molecular mechanisms of resistance to azole antifungal agents in Candida albicans strains displaying high-level fluconazole resistance isolated from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2001;45(10):2676–84.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Feng W, Yang J, Pan Y, Qiao Z, Ma Y. The correlation of virulence, pathogenicity, and itraconazole resistance with SAP activity in Candida albicans strains. Can J Microbiol. 2016;62(2):173–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kirsch DR, Lai MH, O’Sullivan J. Isolation of the gene for cytochrome P450 L1A1 (lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase) from Candida albicans. Gene. 1988;68(2):229–37.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Andreassi L, Bilenchi R. Non-infectious inflammatory genital lesions. Clin Dermatol. 2014;32(2):307–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Mayser P. Mycotic infections of the penis. Andrologia. 1999;31(Suppl. l):13–6.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. He L, Hao JH, Zhang JH, et al. Detection of minimum inhibitory concentration of 9 antifungal drugs to Candida albicans from Candidal balanoposthitis. Chin J Microecol. 2011;23(9):832–4 (Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Liu S, Hou Y, Chen X, et al. Combination of fluconazole with non-antifungal agents: A promising approach to cope with resistant Candida albicans infections and insight into new antifungal agent discovery. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2014;43(5):395–402.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Eddouzi J, Parker JE, Vale-Silva LA, et al. Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in clinical Candida species isolated from Tunisian hospitals. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013;57(7):3182–93.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Pardini G, De Groot PW, Coste AT, et al. The CRH family coding for cell wall glycosylphosphatidylinositol proteins with a predicted transglycosidase domain affects cell wall organization and virulence of Candida albicans. J Biol Chem. 2006;281(52):40399–411.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was kindly supported by the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (2015A030310035) and Guangdong Provincial Health Research Fund (A2013388).

We sincerely thank Dr. Mai Junhua for his assistance in English revision.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yongxuan Hu or Xianyi Zhou.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hu, Y., Hu, Y., Lu, Y. et al. A Case Report of Penile Infection Caused by Fluconazole- and Terbinafine-Resistant Candida albicans . Mycopathologia 182, 397–402 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-016-0070-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-016-0070-z

Keywords

Navigation