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Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schwartz, IS; McLoud, JD; Berman, D; Botha, A; Lerm, B; Colebunders, R; Levetin, E; Kenyon, C
Published in: PLoS Negl Trop Dis
January 2018

Emergomyces africanus is a thermally dimorphic fungus that causes a systemic mycosis in immunocompromised persons in South Africa. Infection is presumed to follow inhalation of airborne propagules. We developed a quantitative PCR protocol able to detect as few as 5 Es. africanus propagules per day. Samples were collected in Cape Town, South Africa over 50 weeks by a Burkard spore trap with an alternate orifice. We detected Es. africanus in air samples from 34 days (10%) distributed over 11 weeks. These results suggest environmental exposure to airborne Es. africanus propagules occurs more commonly in endemic areas than previously appreciated.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

DOI

EISSN

1935-2735

Publication Date

January 2018

Volume

12

Issue

1

Start / End Page

e0006174

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Medicine
  • South Africa
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Onygenales
  • Microbiological Techniques
  • Air Microbiology
  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences
 

Citation

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Schwartz, I. S., McLoud, J. D., Berman, D., Botha, A., Lerm, B., Colebunders, R., … Kenyon, C. (2018). Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 12(1), e0006174. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006174
Schwartz, Ilan S., Josh D. McLoud, Dilys Berman, Alfred Botha, Barbra Lerm, Robert Colebunders, Estelle Levetin, and Chris Kenyon. “Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa.PLoS Negl Trop Dis 12, no. 1 (January 2018): e0006174. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006174.
Schwartz IS, McLoud JD, Berman D, Botha A, Lerm B, Colebunders R, et al. Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan;12(1):e0006174.
Schwartz, Ilan S., et al. “Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa.PLoS Negl Trop Dis, vol. 12, no. 1, Jan. 2018, p. e0006174. Pubmed, doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006174.
Schwartz IS, McLoud JD, Berman D, Botha A, Lerm B, Colebunders R, Levetin E, Kenyon C. Molecular detection of airborne Emergomyces africanus, a thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen, in Cape Town, South Africa. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan;12(1):e0006174.

Published In

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

DOI

EISSN

1935-2735

Publication Date

January 2018

Volume

12

Issue

1

Start / End Page

e0006174

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Medicine
  • South Africa
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Onygenales
  • Microbiological Techniques
  • Air Microbiology
  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences