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Attempted Isolation of Cryptococcus Species and Incidental Isolation of Exophiala dermatitidis from Human Oral Cavities

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Abstract

Recent molecular studies suggest that Cryptococcus may inhabit the normal human mouth. We attempted to isolate Cryptococcus from 21 adult non-acutely ill patients and 40 volunteer medical and non-medical staff in Southeastern Wisconsin, USA. An upper lip sulcus culture and an oral rinse specimen were inoculated separately onto Staib (birdseed) agar containing chloramphenicol and incubated in gas impermeable zip lock bags at 35 °C. No cryptococci were grown from any of the 122 samples from the 61 subjects. Both specimens from a woman with no risk factors for fungal disease yielded a black yeast at 4 days on Staib agar. This isolate was shown to be Exophiala dermatitidis by colony and microscopic morphology, analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and sequencing through the internal transcribed spacer ribosomal RNA gene. This appears to be a novel isolation of E. dermatitidis from the oral cavity of a generally healthy human.

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Fig. 1

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Within the policies of our institutions and the Institutional Review Board, data and the isolated strain are available to other investigators.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the volunteer patients and staff members who participated in this project. This study was supported, in part, by the Aurora Health Care Foundation.

Funding

This study was supported, in part, by the Aurora Health Care Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aurora University of Wisconsin Medical Group, Advocate Aurora Health, 1020 N. 12th St., Suite 4180, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Caroline P. Toberna, Jessica J. F. Kram & Dennis J. Baumgardner

  2. Center for Urban Population Health, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Caroline P. Toberna, Jessica J. F. Kram & Dennis J. Baumgardner

  3. Advocate Aurora Research Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Caroline P. Toberna

  4. Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Jessica J. F. Kram & Dennis J. Baumgardner

  5. ACL Laboratories, Advocate Aurora Health, West Allis, WI, USA

    Eric T. Beck

  6. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Sommer Ray, Tyler Gavinski & Alana K. Sterkel

Authors
  1. Caroline P. Toberna
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  2. Jessica J. F. Kram
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  3. Eric T. Beck
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  4. Sommer Ray
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  7. Dennis J. Baumgardner
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Contributions

DJB and JJFK conceived of or designed the study; all authors performed research; DJB, CPT, JJFK, ETB, and AKS analyzed the data; CPT wrote the paper—primary; DJB was involved in the revision; all other authors contributed to segments and critical review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dennis J. Baumgardner.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Consent to Participate

All subjects signed written informed consent as approved by the Institutional Review Board.

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All authors have seen, contributed to, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Aurora Health Care Institutional Review Board (Protocol/Approval Number 18-134E).

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Handling Editor: Vishnu Chaturvedi.

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Toberna, C.P., Kram, J.J.F., Beck, E.T. et al. Attempted Isolation of Cryptococcus Species and Incidental Isolation of Exophiala dermatitidis from Human Oral Cavities. Mycopathologia 185, 1051–1055 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-020-00490-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-020-00490-5

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