Development of a quantitative PCR detecting Cunninghamella bertholletiae to help in diagnosing this rare and aggressive mucormycosis

Development of a quantitative PCR detecting Cunninghamella bertholletiae to help in diagnosing this rare and aggressive mucormycosis.

Anne-Pauline Bellanger (1, 2) , Ana Berceanu (3) , Steffi Rocchi (1, 2) , Benoit Valot (1) , Jean Fontan (3) , Adrien Chauchet (3) , Nicolas Belin (4) , Émeline Scherer (1, 2) , Eric Deconinck (3) , Jean-Christophe Navellou (4) , Laurence Millon (1, 2)

1 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)
2 Service de parasitologie et mycologie [CHRU de Besançon]
3 Service d'hématologie
4 Service de Réanimation médicale [CHRU Besançon]

Mucormycosis is an invasive mold infection, frequently fatal in immunocompromised patients. We report the case of a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia admitted to the hematology unit for febrile aplasia. Pulmonary lesions suggesting a fungal infection expanded/increased despite a combination of posaconazole and liposomal amphotericin B. The fungal biomarkers performed repeatedly were negative. At D65 after chemotherapy a bronchial biopsy was positive for Cunninghamella bertholletiae. The patient died despite appropriate antifungal management. A qPCR targeting Cunninghamella was developed a posteriori, and a retrospective analysis showed that a sample was positive more than 30 days before culture-based identification could be made.

Domaines: Santé

Anne-Pauline Bellanger, Ana Berceanu, Steffi Rocchi, Benoit Valot, Jean Fontan, et al.. Development of a quantitative PCR detecting Cunninghamella bertholletiae to help in diagnosing this rare and aggressive mucormycosis. Bone Marrow Transplantation, 2018, ⟨10.1038/s41409-018-0194-5⟩. ⟨hal-01791907⟩