Fresenius, 1863
Macroscopic morphology
Colonies on potato dextrose agar at 25°C are smoky gray-green with a slight yellow reverse. Some isolates may display a lavender diffusible pigment. Very mature colonies turn slate gray. Rapid growth. Texture is woolly to cottony to somewhat granular [1875], [1215]. Atypical isolates may remain white with little conidiation [2202], [531].
Microscopic morphology
Hyphae are septate and hyaline. Conidial heads are strongly columnar in an undisturbed culture. Conidiophores are smooth-walled, uncolored, up to 300 µm long, and terminate in a dome-shaped vesicle that is 20- 30 µm in diameter. This species is uniseriate with closely compacted phialides (5-10 x 2-3 µm) occurring only on the upper portion of the vesicle. Conidia are smooth to finely roughened, subglobose, 2-3.5 µm in diameter [2202], [1875], [1215], [531].
Special notes
This species is the most common agent of aspergillosis in both man and animals. It is a thermophilic species (growth at 40°C and beyond) that may be extremely angioinvasive, particularly in the compromised patient. Hyphae in tissue may or may not display 45° angle branching. Fruiting heads may be seen in air cavities in the lung.
FTL* in vitro susceptibility data
| AMB | CAS | ITRA | VORI | POSA | KETO | TERB | 5FC | MICA | ANID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.25 µg/ml=39 | 0.03 µg/ml=31 | 0.03 µg/ml=2 | 0.125 µg/ml=5 | 0.03 µg/ml=4 | 1.0 µg/ml=18 | 0.03 µg/ml=1 | >64 µg/ml=45 | 0.03 µg/ml=1 | 0.03 µg/ml=1 |
| 0.5 µg/ml=305 | 0.06 µg/ml=56 | 0.06 µg/ml=14 | 0.25 µg/ml=48 | 0.06 µg/ml=29 | 2.0 µg/ml=1 | 0.06 µg/ml=1 | 0.06 µg/ml=12 | ||
| 1.0 µg/ml=214 | 0.125 µg/ml=213 | 0.125 µg/ml=33 | 0.5 µg/ml=304 | 0.125 µg/ml=40 | 4.0 µg/ml=6 | 0.125 µg/ml=3 | 8 µg/ml=1 | ||
| 2.0 µg/ml=26 | 0.25 µg/ml=115 | 0.25 µg/ml=111 | 1.0 µg/ml=101 | 0.25 µg/ml=4 | 8.0 µg/ml=38 | 0.25 µg/ml=1 | |||
| 4.0 µg/ml=11 | 0.5 µg/ml=8 | 0.5 µg/ml=233 | 2.0 µg/ml=19 | 0.5 µg/ml=2 | 16 µg/ml=18 | 0.5 µg/ml=11 | |||
| 8.0 µg/ml=3 | 2.0 µg/ml=4 | 1.0 µg/ml=63 | 4.0 µg/ml=7 | 1.0 µg/ml=2 | 1.0 µg/ml=8 | ||||
| 4.0 µg/ml=6 | 2.0 µg/ml=17 | >8.0 µg/ml=5 | |||||||
| 16 µg/ml=4 | 4.0 µg/ml=4 | ||||||||
| >8.0 µg/ml=6 |
| Drug/N | AMB/598 | CAS/437 | ITRA/483 | VORI/489 | POSA/81 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIC Range | 0.25-8 | 0.03-16.0 | 0.03->8.0 | 0.125->8.0 | 0.03-1.0 |
| MIC50 | 0.5 | 0.125 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.125 |
| MIC90 | 1.0 | 0.25 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.125 |
* Fungus Testing Laboratory unpublished data (NCCLS M38-A)