The SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program monitors global susceptibility and resistance rates of newer and established antifungal agents. We report the echinocandin and triazole antifungal susceptibility patterns for 3,418 contemporary clinical isolates of yeasts and molds. The isolates were obtained from 98 laboratories in 34 countries during 2010 and 2011. Yeasts not presumptively identified by CHROMagar, the trehalose test, or growth at 42°C and all molds were sequence identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S (yeasts) or ITS, translation elongation factor (TEF), and 28S (molds) genes. Susceptibility testing was performed against 7 antifungals (anidulafungin, caspofungin, micafungin, fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole) using CLSI methods. Rates of resistance to all agents were determined using the new CLSI clinical breakpoints and epidemiological cutoff value criteria, as appropriate. Sequencing of fks hot spots was performed for echinocandin non-wildtype (WT) strains. Isolates included 3,107 from 21 Candida spp., 146 from 9 Aspergillus spp., 84 from Cryptococcus neoformans, 40 from 23 other mold species, and 41 from 9 other yeast species. Among Candida spp., resistance to the echinocandins was low (0.0 to 1.7%). Candida albicans and Candida glabrata that were resistant to anidulafungin, caspofungin, or micafungin were shown to have fks mutations. Resistance to fluconazole was low among the isolates of C. albicans (0.4%), Candida tropicalis (1.3%), and Candida parapsilosis (2.1%); however, 8.8% of C. glabrata isolates were resistant to fluconazole. Among echinocandin-resistant C. glabrata isolates from 2011, 38% were fluconazole resistant. Voriconazole was active against all Candida spp. except C. glabrata (10.5% non-WT), whereas posaconazole showed decreased activity against C. albicans (4.4%) and Candida krusei (15.2% non-WT). All agents except for the echinocandins were active against C. neoformans, and the triazoles were active against other yeasts (MIC 90 , 2 g/ml). The echinocandins and triazoles were active against Aspergillus spp. (MIC 90 /minimum effective concentration [MEC 90 ] range, 0.015 to 2 g/ml), but the echinocandins were not active against other molds (MEC 90 range, 4 to >16 g/ml). Overall, echinocandin and triazole resistance rates were low; however, the fluconazole and echinocandin coresistance among C. glabrata strains warrants continued close surveillance.

The increasing diversity of opportunistic fungi causing serious invasive fungal infections (IFI) has been documented. Accurate identification (ID) is important in guiding therapy, determining prognosis for IFIs and in epidemiological surveys. We assessed the utility of PCR-based methods for the ID of yeasts and moulds that either were uncommon, failed conventional ID, or represented unusual biochemical or phenotypic profiles of common species. Among 1,790 viable fungal clinical isolates received during the SENTRY Program in 2010, 322 strains from 40 study sites had ID confirmed by molecular methods. Isolates were previously identified in participant institutions. Yeasts that were not confirmed by morphology on CHROMagar, growth at 45 °C (Candida albicans/dubliniensis), or assimilation of trehalose (C. glabrata) as well as non-Candida yeasts and all moulds were amplified and sequenced using primers amplifying one or more of the following genes: ITS, 28S, β-tubulin (Aspergillus spp.), TEF (Fusarium spp.), IGS (Trichosporon spp.). The isolates selected for molecular ID included 149 isolates of Candida species, 77 of Aspergillus species, 73 non-Candida yeasts, and 23 other moulds (a total of 41 different species). Overall, the ID determined by the submitting site was confirmed for 189 isolates (58.7 %): Aspergillus spp. (64.1 % correct); Candida spp. (60.1 % correct); non-Candida yeasts (58.9 % correct); non-Aspergillus moulds (30.4 % correct). Species with high levels of concordance between conventional and molecular ID included A. fumigatus (95.0  %), C. lusitaniae (100 %), C. dubliniensis (92.3 %), C. kefyr (100 %), and C. neoformans (90.2 %). Only 50.0 % of isolates of C. albicans and 59.1 % of C. glabrata selected due to unusual phenotypic or biochemical features were found to be correctly identified by the submitting site. Molecular methods for the identification of fungal pathogens are an important adjunct to the conventional identification of many less common clinically relevant yeasts and moulds including species of Candida with unusual or erroneous phenotypic or biochemical profiles. Molecular confirmation of fungal identification is essential in epidemiological surveys such as SENTRY.

We evaluated the prevalence of fks1 hot spot (HS) 1 mutations among 133 Candida strains from six species displaying various caspofungin MIC values (from <0.008 to >8 g/ml). Only 4 (2.9%) strains displayed FKS1 HS1 amino acid substitutions: 1 C. albicans (F641Y) among 32 isolates tested (3.1%), 1 C. glabrata (S645P) among 34 isolates tested (2.9%), and 2 C. tropicalis (F641S) among 12 isolates tested (16.7%). The 4 isolates displaying FKS1 HS1 alterations showed elevated caspofungin MIC results (1 to >8 g/ml) but lower anidulafungin and micafungin MIC values (0.12 to 4 g/ml and 0.25 to 4 g/ml, respectively) in some instances within the wild-type MIC population, as determined using the epidemiologic cutoff values (ECV). Candida krusei, C. parapsilosis, and C. guilliermondii isolates tested showed no FKS1 HS1 alterations regardless of echinocandin MIC result. We additionally analyzed 8 C. albicans and 7 C. glabrata strains for mutations on other HS regions of fks1 and fks2. Three C. glabrata strains showed alterations on FKS2 HS1 (two S645P and one L644W). In general, strains displaying S645P alteration showed higher echinocandin MIC values than strains harboring other mutations. Overall, Candida spp. strains showing caspofungin MIC values within the ECV did not display fks HS mutations. In contrast, strains showing alterations in this region displayed anidulafungin and/or micafungin MIC values within the wild-type population, suggesting that caspofungin could be the most sensitive agent for detection of these resistance mutations. Furthermore, results from this large, geographically diverse Candida spp. collection demonstrated that fks1 HS1 mutations remain uncommon among isolates with various echinocandin MIC levels.

bCandida famata (teleomorph Debaryomyces hansenii) has been described as a medically relevant yeast, and this species has been included in many commercial identification systems that are currently used in clinical laboratories. Among 53 strains collected during the SENTRY and ARTEMIS surveillance programs and previously identified as C. famata (includes all submitted strains with this identification) by a variety of commercial methods (Vitek, MicroScan, API, and AuxaColor), DNA sequencing methods demonstrated that 19 strains were C. guilliermondii, 14 were C. parapsilosis, 5 were C. lusitaniae, 4 were C. albicans, and 3 were C. tropicalis, and five isolates belonged to other Candida species (two C. fermentati and one each C. intermedia, C. pelliculosa, and Pichia fabianni). Additionally, three misidentified C. famata strains were correctly identified as Kodomaea ohmeri, Debaryomyces nepalensis, and Debaryomyces fabryi using intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) and/or intergenic spacer (IGS) sequencing. The Vitek 2 system identified three isolates with high confidence to be C. famata and another 15 with low confidence between C. famata and C. guilliermondii or C. parapsilosis, displaying only 56.6% agreement with DNA sequencing results. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) results displayed 81.1% agreement with DNA sequencing. One strain each of C. metapsilosis, C. fermentati, and C. intermedia demonstrated a low score for identification (<2.0) in the MALDI Biotyper. K. ohmeri, D. nepalensis, and D. fabryi identified by DNA sequencing in this study were not in the current database for the MALDI Biotyper. These results suggest that the occurrence of C. famata in fungal infections is much lower than previously appreciated and that commercial systems do not produce accurate identifications except for the newly introduced MALDI-TOF instruments.

bAmong 119 echinocandin non-wild-type (non-WT) Candida glabrata strains from two global surveys, mutations in fks hot spots (HSs) were detected in 28 (from 7 countries and 8 U.S. states): 24 strains (85.7%) had non-WT MICs for micafungin, 22 (78.6%) for anidulafungin, and 25 (89.3%) for caspofungin. The most common FKS substitutions among non-WT strains were at positions F659 (n ‫؍‬ 7) and S663 (n ‫؍‬ 7). Three isolates displaying WT MIC results had F625Y, L630I, and D632Y substitutions or non-HS mutations. Mutations that have been reported to decrease the echinocandin binding to the 1,3-␤-D-glucan synthase were categorized as resistant by applying the new CLSI breakpoint criteria for all three echinocandins. Candida glabrata is a leading human fungal pathogen that causes life-threatening infections and poses a challenge to antifungal therapeutic options due to its refractory susceptibility to the azole agents and the ability to develop resistance to both azoles and the echinocandins (1, 2). Echinocandin resistance in C. glabrata is usually caused by the acquisition of point mutations in hot spot (HS) regions of the fks gene encoding the 1,3-␤-D-glucan synthase (GS), the target of the echinocandin class (3). Furthermore, it is thought that the haploid nature of C. glabrata makes it particularly adept at acquiring resistance mutations.Due to the spectrum and fungicidal potency against Candida spp., the echinocandin agents (anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin) are recommended as first-line therapy for most patients with invasive candidiasis, followed by de-escalation to fluconazole, as directed by the susceptibility of the infecting organism. Resistance to the systemically active echinocandin and azole antifungal agents is distinctly uncommon among bloodstream infection isolates of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, and C. parapsilosis; however, the emergence of resistance to both classes of antifungal agents is now evident for C. glabrata (4), suggesting that this species requires greater monitoring for resistance. Furthermore, a 10-year study conducted in a single U.S. medical center found that the presence of an elevated caspofungin MIC (Ͼ0.12 g/ml) or micafungin MIC (Ͼ0.06 g/ml) served as a sensitive screen for the presence of clinically significant mutations in the fks gene (2).In the present study, we evaluated all C. glabrata strains collected during two global surveillance programs from 2001 to 2011 that displayed MIC values above the epidemiologic cutoff values (ECVs) or had non-wild-type (non-WT) MICs (5, 6) for one or more of the echinocandins upon initial testing. Isolates were retested by the reference broth microdilution (BMD) method (7,8) and were evaluated for the presence of fks mutations.A total of 119 C. glabrata isolates were selected for analysis and were equally distributed among the two surveillance studies and throughout the years tested. These were all isolates that upon initial testing displayed non-WT MIC values for one or more of the echinocandins (micafungin, 26 isolates with non-WT MI...