Fonsecaea pugnacius, a Novel Agent of Disseminated Chromoblastomycosis

We report a fatal case of a chromoblastomycosis-like infection caused by a novel species of Fonsecaea in a 52-year-old immunocompetent Caucasian male from an area of chromoblastomycosis endemicity in Brazil. The patient had a 30-year history of slowly evolving, verrucous lesions on the right upper arm which gradually affected the entire arm, the left hemifacial area, and the nose. Subsequent dissemination to the brain was observed, which led to death of the patient. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and partial large subunit (LSU), BT2, and CDC42 genes of the isolates recovered from skin and brain were sequenced, confirming the novelty of the species. The species is clinically unique in causing brain abscesses secondary to chromoblastomycosis lesions despite the apparent intact immunity of the patient. Histopathologic appearances were very different, showing muriform cells in skin and hyphae in brain

Phylogenetic and Molecular Profile of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Bloodstream Infections in Northeast Brazil

Staphylococcus aureus is a notorious human pathogen associated with serious nosocomial and community-acquired infections, such as pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, and sepsis, among others. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular profile, antimicrobial resistance, and clonal diversity of S. aureus isolated from the bloodstream. The determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antimicrobial was performed by an automated method. The presence of several virulence and resistance genes was evaluated by PCR. In addition, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to analyze the clonal diversity of S. aureus. A high resistance to oxacillin (78%), clindamycin (78%), erythromycin (70%), ciprofloxacin (61%), and gentamicin (52%) was observed among the isolates. In most of them, the following virulence genes were detected: hlb (83%), ebpS (61%), icaA (57%), fnbpA (17%), and clfA (13%). Only one isolate carried the pvl gene. MLST analysis identified five new sequence types (STs): 5429, 5430, 5431, 5432, and 5433, as well as another seven—ST5, ST97, ST398, ST101, ST30, ST461, and ST2779—among the remaining strains. These seven STs and the four new STs are clustered in four clonal complexes: CC1, CC2, CC7, and CC17. Phylogenetic analysis showed the genetic relationship of the five new ST strains with another 18 strains. Altogether, these analyses indicate the horizontal transfer acquisition of virulence factor genes and multidrug resistance

Prenylated Flavonoids from Roots of Dahlstedtia glaziovii

A phytochemical study of roots of Dahlstedtia glaziovii (Fabaceae) furnished a new dibenzoylmethane (glaziovione), along with eighteen known compounds. Their structures were determined through 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) (heteronuclear single quantum coherence, HSQC, and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation, HMBC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) spectral analyses. The antiproliferative activity was investigated for the crude extracts, the dibenzoylmethanes 2'-methoxy-8-(α-α-dimethylallyl)-furano-[4",5":3',4']-dibenzoylmethane, 3,4-methylenedioxy-2'-methoxy-8-(α-α-dimethylallyl)-furano-[4",5":3',4']-dibenzoylmethane and pongamol, and the flavones lanceolatin B, karanjin, pongapin and 3',4'-methylenedioxy-2",2"-dimethylpyrano-[5",6":8,7]-flavone. The dibenzoylmethanes were more active than the flavones.The extracts were evaluated for their antimicrobial effects, but none was shown to be active