Identification of the infectious source of an unusual outbreak of histoplasmosis, in a hotel in Acapulco, state of Guerrero, Mexico

• Published in: FEMS immunology and medical microbiology 2005-09, Vol.45 (3), p.435-441
• Main Authors: Taylor, Maria Lucia, Ruíz-Palacios, Guillermo M., del Rocío Reyes-Montes, María, Rodríguez-Arellanes, Gabriela, Carreto-Binaghi, Laura E., Duarte-Escalante, Esperanza, Hernández-Ramírez, Aurora, Pérez, Armando, Suárez-Alvarez, Roberto O., Roldán-Aragón, Yuri A., Romero-Martínez, Rafael, Sahaza-Cardona, Jorge H., Sifuentes-Osornio, José, Soto-Ramírez, Luis E., Peña-Sandoval, Gabriela R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acid sequence; Animals; Clinical isolates; Composting; Composts; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Disease Outbreaks; DNA; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Gene sequencing; Histoplasma - classification; Histoplasma - genetics; Histoplasma - isolation & purification; Histoplasma - pathogenicity; Histoplasma capsulatum; Histoplasmosis; Histoplasmosis - epidemiology; Histoplasmosis - microbiology; Histoplasmosis - pathology; Homology; Hotels & motels; Humans; Mexico - epidemiology; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Nested-PCR; Nucleotide sequence; Organ Specificity; Ornamental plants; Outbreak; Outbreaks; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; RAPD-PCR; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil Microbiology; Spleen; Travel
• ISSN: 0928-8244; 1574-695X; 2049-632X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.femsim.2005.05.017

Three isolates of Histoplasma capsulatum were identified from mice lung, liver, and spleen inoculated with soil samples of the X hotel’s ornamental potted plants that had been fertilized with organic material known as compost. The presence of H. capsulatum in the original compost was detected using the dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Nested-PCR, using a specific protein Hcp100 coding gene sequence, confirmed the fungal identification associated with an unusual histoplasmosis outbreak in Acapulco. Although, diversity between the H. capsulatum isolate from the hotel and some clinical isolates from Guerrero (positive controls) was observed using random amplification of polymorphic DNA based-PCR, sequence analyses of H-anti and ole fragment genes revealed a high homology (92–99%) between them.