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* Fungus Testing Laboratory unpublished data (NCCLS M38-A)

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