Résumé
Background:
Aspergillus infection is a well-known complication of lung transplantation and remains associated with high mortality rates. Molecular typing methods are required to elucidate the complex epidemiology of
Aspergillus disease in lung transplant recipients.
Methods: Eight lung transplant recipients from one hospital were followed for
A fumigatus colonization or infection. Forty-four sequential isolates from these patients were selected and typed by three molecular methods (random amplified polymorphic DNA, sequence-specific DNA primer and multi-locus enzyme electrophoresis).
Results: Sixteen different types were identified of which 14 were specific to 1 patient. A factorial correspondence analysis showed that variability between sequential isolates from a single patient was as high as between isolates from the other patients. Lung transplant recipients presented many different genotypes, reflecting the environmental diversity of
A fumigatus. Nevertheless, throughout their follow-up, 2 of the 8 lung transplant recipients harbored a common genotype that was not replaced by others.
Conclusions:These results confirm the important genetic polymorphism of the
A fumigatus population. The observed genotypes were not related to the type of
Aspergillus disease or anti-fungal treatment used nor to the outcome of the patient. These data confirm that all
A fumigatus molecular types present the same pathogenic risk.