High prevalence of triazole resistance in clinical Aspergillus fumigatus isolates in a specialist cardiothoracic centre
File(s)Azole resistance in AF accepted.docx (1.99 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence of triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus and common molecular cyp51A polymorphisms amongst clinical isolates in a specialised cardiothoracic centre in London, UK. METHODS: All A. fumigatus isolates were prospectively analysed from April 2014 to March 2016. Isolates were screened with a four-well VIPcheck™ plate to assess triazole susceptibility. Resistance was confirmed with a standard microbroth dilution method according to European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. Triazole-resistant A. fumigatus isolates were subjected to a mixed-format real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay (AsperGenius®) to detect common cyp51A alterations. RESULTS: We identified 167 clinical A. fumigatus isolates from 135 patients. Resistance to at least one azole antifungal drug was confirmed in 22/167 (13.2%) of isolates from 18/135 (13.3%) patients, including 12/74 (16.2%) patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The highest detection rate of azole-resistant A. fumigatus was among the 11- to 20-y age group. All triazole-resistant isolates (n = 22) were resistant to itraconazole, 18 showed cross-resistance to posaconazole and 10 displayed reduced susceptibility to voriconazole. No pan-azole-resistant A. fumigatus was identified. TR34/L98H was identified in 6/22 (27.3%) of azole-resistant isolates and detectable in 5/12 (42%) patients with CF. CONCLUSIONS: In our specialist cardiothoracic centre, the prevalence of triazole-resistant A. fumigatus is alarmingly high (13.2%). The majority of azole-resistant isolates were from patients with CF. We found a higher prevalence of the environmentally driven mutation TR34/L98H in our A. fumigatus isolates than in published UK data from other specialist respiratory centres, which may reflect differing patient populations managed at these institutions.
Date Issued
2018-11-01
Date Acceptance
2018-08-04
Citation
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 2018, 52 (5), pp.637-642
ISSN
0924-8579
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
637
End Page
642
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Volume
52
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30103005
PII: S0924-8579(18)30230-9
Grant Number
NE/P001165/1
Subjects
Aspergillus fumigatus
antifungal drugs
azole resistance
cyp51A
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Date Publish Online
2018-08-10