Background: During the past decade, a prolonged and serious outbreak of dermatophytosis due to a terbinafine-resistant novel species in the Trichophyton mentagrophytes/T. interdigitale complex is ongoing in India, and it spreads to several European countries. Objective: To investigate the molecular background of the squalene epoxidase (SQLE) gene in order to understand the risk of emergence and spread of multi-resistance in dermatophytes. Methods: Antifungal susceptibility for fluconazole, griseofulvin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, miconazole, naftifine, sertaconazole, and terbinafine was tested in 135 isolates from India, China, Australia, Germany and The Netherlands. Based on the latest taxonomic insights, strains were identified as three species: T. mentagrophytes s. str. (n=35), T. indotineae (n=64 representing the Indian clone) and T. interdigitale s. str. (n=36). Results: High minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of terbinafine (>16 mg/L) were found in 34 (53%) T. indotineae isolates. These isolates showed an amino acid substitution in the 397th position of the SQLE gene. Elevated MICs of terbinafine (0.5 mg/L) were noted in 2 (3%) T. indotineae isolates; these isolates lead to Phe415Val and Leu393Ser of the SQLE gene. Stability of the effect of the mutations was proven by serial transfer on drug-free medium. Substitutions of Lys276Asn and Leu419Phe were found in susceptible T. mentagrophytes strains. The double mutant Phe377Leu/Ala448Thr showed higher MIC values for triazoles. Conclusions: High MICs of terbinafine are as yet limited to T. indotineae, and are unlikely to be distributed through the T. mentagrophytes species complex by genetic exchange.

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Abstract Arthroderma is the most diverse genus among dermatophytes encompassing species occurring in soil, caves, animal burrows, clinical material and other environments. In this study, we collected ex-type, reference and authentic strains of all currently accepted Arthroderma species and generated sequences of three highly variable loci (ITS rDNA, β-tubulin, and translation elongation factor 1-α). The number of accepted species was expanded to 27. One novel species, A. melbournense (ex-type strain CCF 6162T = CBS 145858T), is described. This species was isolated from toenail dust collected by a podiatrist in Melbourne, during an epidemiological study of four geographical regions of Eastern Australia. Trichophyton terrestre, Chrysosporium magnisporum, and Chrysosporium oceanitis are transferred to Arthroderma. Typification is provided for T. terrestre that is not conspecific with any of the supposed biological species from the former T. terrestre complex, that is, A. insingulare, A. lenticulare and A. quadrifidum. A multi-gene phylogeny and reference sequences provided in this study should serve as a basis for future phylogenetic studies and facilitate species identification in practice. Lay abstract The genus Arthroderma encompasses geophilic dermatophyte species that infrequently cause human and animal superficial infections. Reference sequences from three genetic loci were generated for all currently accepted Arthroderma species and phylogeny was constructed. Several taxonomic novelties are introduced. The newly provided data will facilitate species identification and future taxonomic studies.

Background: Podiatric physicians routinely use electric drills for the treatment of nail and skin conditions. The grinding process produces human nail and skin dust that is generally vacuumed into bags in the grinding unit. Many of the nails are thought to be mycotic, particularly because they are obtained from patients with symptoms of dermatophyte infections. Currently, there is limited information available on the detection of fungi from nail dust samples. Herein, we attempt to address this situation and outline some of the difficulties that pathology laboratories face in isolating and identifying dermatophytes from nail samples. Methods: Fifty nail dust bags from podiatric medical clinics across all of the states and territories of Australia were collected and analyzed. Samples from the bags were inoculated onto primary isolation media. Fungal colonies that grew were then inoculated onto potato dextrose agar for identification using standard morphological (macroscopic and microscopic) features. Results: One hundred fifty-one colonies of dermatophytes were identified from 43 of the 50 samples. In addition 471 nondermatophyte molds were isolated, along with some yeasts and bacteria. Conclusions: The most common dermatophytes isolated were from the Trichophyton mentagrophytes/interdigitale complexes. Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton soudanense, and Epidermophyton floccosum were also isolated. An unidentified group of dermatophytes was also present. The three most common genera of nondermatophyte molds were Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Scopulariopsis, all of which have been implicated in onychomycosis and more general disease. The presence of viable fungal pathogens in the dust could potentially pose a health problem to podiatric physicians.