Prototheca wickerhamii hand infection successfully treated by. Prototheca species are achlorophyllous algae ubiquitous in nature. Wound infection by prototheca wickerhamii, a saprophytic alga. Cutaneous pro tothecosis has various clinical manifestations, including. Not fungi but similar features first recognized as human pathogen in 1964. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the. Prototheca species have also been cultured from animal feces, soil, and a variety of other. The fresh inocula are grown in a diurnal light cycle for at least 3 days until a macroscopically visible lawn appears. High bulk tank bacteria counts may tip you off that this intruder prototheca is lurking around your cows. Maldityping of infectious algae of the genus prototheca. Prototheca wickerhamii hand infection successfully treated.
Scarce information is available on the role of the immune system in protothecal infections, but both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients can be infected by this organism. Prototheca wickerhamii tubaki and soneda atcc 16529d. Molecular characterization of prototheca strains isolated. Outbreak of protothecal mastitis in a herd of dairy cows in poland. Three species are currently recognized within the genus prototheca. Prototheca wickerhamii is an achlorophyllic alga and is ubiquitous in nature, which can cause human infections. University of minnesota college of veterinary medicine. All the species within this genus, even though classified as green algae, have forfeited their photosynthetic ability and have switched to. Chlorella kessleri chlorella minutissima nanochlorum.
Prototheca zopfii colitis in inherited card9 deficiency. The patient was successfully treated with ketoconazole. A strain of an achlorophyllic alga, named pr24t, was isolated from cow milk samples from the state of minas gerais, brazil. Feb 12, 2019 infection is usually caused by p wickerhamii. Prototheca wickerhamii journal of clinical microbiology asm.
Currently, six species are included in the genus prototheca. Chronic eosinophilic meningoencephalitis by prototheca. Based on 18s rdna, 28s rrna, d1d2 region of the lsu rdna and ssu rrna gene sequence similarities, this strain was found to be a member of the genus prototheca and closely related to prototheca blaschkeae sag2064t. Among previous meningitis cases, the presence of p. Prototheca wickerhamii an overview sciencedirect topics. Full text get a printable copy pdf file of the complete article 625k, or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Prototheca wickerhamii was the most common prototheca species identied as the causative agent of infection.
Oct 01, 2014 prototheca wickerhamii, an environmental alga, rarely causes human infections. Prototheca mastitis could be transmitted from cow to cow during milking time 3,11 with severe economic losses 12,16,23,36,45. The isolate from a canine disseminated protothecosis was identified to be prototheca wickerhamii by its morphological and biochemical characteristics. Serologic survey of rotavirus, norwalk agent and prototheca. Prototheca wickerhamii tubaki and soneda, 1959 morphology. Simple new test for rapid differentiation of prototheca wickerhamii from. An isolate of prototheca wickerhamii from systemic canine. Prototheca is also believed to be responsible for ulcerative dermatitis in the platypus. Prototheca definition of prototheca by medical dictionary. An invisible intruder has been threatening the udder health of herds on some ontario dairy farms. Prototheca are best visualized in tissue specimens stained with gomori. Full text get a printable copy pdf file of the complete article 183k, or click on a page image below to browse page by page.
Prototheca wickerhamii, prototheca zopfii, prototheca blaschkeae, prototheca cutis, prototheca ulema, and. Text is available under the creative commons attributionsharealike license. If protothecal mastitis is suspected, careful culture and identification to confirm the presence of prototheca is. Prototheca species are achlorophyllic algae which are ubiquitous and are considered as rare opportunistic agents. Prototheca wickerhamii hand infection successfully treated by itraconazole and voriconazole it is extremely uncommon for clinicians to encounter infections caused by other pathogens. This similarity is also supported by maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses inferences. D, prototheca multiplex polymerase chain reaction pcr assay left panel shows prototheca zopfii genotype 2 at 508 base pairs bp, prototheca zopfii genotype 1 at 216 bp, and prototheca wickerhamii at 115 bp. Outbreak of protothecal mastitis in a herd of dairy cows. Bilateral choroiditis from prototheca wickerhamii algaemia. From these sources they may contaminate aquatic systems and food and subsequently be eaten by man and animals and then excreted, completing the cycle. Ribosomal internal transcribed spacer of prototheca.
Human protothecosis is thought to result from contact with potential sources or traumatic inoculation, leading to cutaneous, subcutaneous, and articular bursae infections, whereas dissemination and visceral involvement is thought to occur mainly in. Prototheca is classified among the lower algae, the chlorophyceae, and belong to the same family as the green algae chlorella. Protothecosis is a disease found in dogs, cats, cattle, and humans caused by a type of green alga known as prototheca that lacks chlorophyll. Prototheca zopfii colitis in inherited card9 deficiency the. We present a case of prototheca wickerhamii cutaneous and systemic infections in an 85yearold male with adrenal insufficiency. Prototheca was first linked to bovine mastitis in 1952, but was not considered a significant pathogen until relatively recently. Chlorella kessleri chlorella minutissima nanochlorum eucaryotum prototheca wickerhamii chlorella protothecoides prototheca zopfii chlorella ellipsoidea chlorella mirabilis stichococcus bacillaris choricystis minor chlorella saccharophila chlorella luteoviridis. In the presence of adequate nutrients vegetative spores. Wound infection by prototheca wickerhamii, a saprophytic.
Analysis for prototheca antibody titres was essentially negative. Prototheca in tissue sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin can be difficult to visualize. The results revealed resistance to griseofulvin of all the prototheca isolates tested and an. Prototheca was isolated for 1 month in a 24yearold male patient and for 6 years in a 20yearold asymptomatic male patient with no underlying diseases, while it was detected once in a 25yearold female patient with. Prototheca wickerhamii, an environmental alga, rarely causes human infections.
Media in category prototheca this category contains only the following file. Protothecosis definition of protothecosis by medical. Prototheca species are achlorophyllous algae with phylogenetic affinities to the genus chlorella. Protothecosis occurs in europe, asia, africa, oceania, and in north america. This indicates that prototheca are widely dispersed in the environment of dairy cows on both dairies with and without prototheca problems. Electron micrographs of prototheca show a doublelayered cell wall with outer thinner and inner thicker portions 12. This page was last edited on 28 january 2012, at 22. Both are known to cause disease in dogs, while most human.
Prototheca, a colourless algae, can be hard to detect. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Prototheca wickerhamii cutaneous and systemic infections. When nuclear rdna of fl11 and that of various other prototheca strains were compared by polymerase chain reaction pcr, the results indicated that the sizes of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer its were different in a speciesdependent manner, suggesting that the variation might be useful for differentiation of prototheca spp. Trehalose assimilation is a key test to differentiate p. The isolate was grouped into a cluster identical to the type strain of p. It has been cultured from a wide variety of aqueous sources, including lakes, streams, ponds, and even tap water.
Original article detection of cutaneous protothecosis by. Twenty isolates of prototheca filamenta, prototheca moriformis, prototheca stagnora, prototheca wickerhamii, and prototheca zopfii were tested for in vitro susceptibility to five commonly used antifungal agents. The two most common species are prototheca wickerhamii and prototheca zopfii. It is widely present in the environment and is a rare cause of infection in humans protothecosis and most commonly presents as nodules of the skin.
Get a printable copy pdf file of the complete article 1. Susceptibility of prototheca species to antifungal agents. P rototheca spp are colorless algae related to the green algae of the genus chlorella. Localized infection of the skin is most common and typically results from primary inoculation through a wound or abrasion. Prototheca have been isolated from environmental sites on dairies that have cows infected with prototheca and dairies that do not have mastitis caused by prototheca. Two members of the species are pathogenic in humans, prototheca wickerhamii 2 to 12 m and prototheca zopfii 10 to 25 m. Treatment with ketoconazole, incision and drainage was unsuccessful, but reexploration, synovectomy and prolonged treatment with. Although such infections are infrequent, they can manifest themselves clinically as cutaneous lesions, olecranon bursitis, and, even more rarely, as disseminated or systemic infections. These organisms require carbon in order to thrive, and obtain this nutrient through consumption of organic substrates. Most cases reported have a suppressed immune system from drugs or disease. Pdf a simple new test to differentiate prototheca wickerhamii from prototheca zopfii by determining susceptibility to clotrimazole is described.
After the final identification of prototheca wickerhamii was made postmortem by molecular methods described. Serologic survey of rotavirus, norwalk agent and prototheca wickerhamii in wastewater workers. Almost all prototheca isolates from bovine milk in europe and asia belong to p. Prototheca organisms may eventually spread to the lymph glands from these subcutaneous lesions.
Prototheca wickerhamii was cultured repeatedly from the wound drainage and the. Prototheca pcrrestriction fragment length polymorphism rflp assay distinguishes between p. Full text get a printable copy pdf file of the complete article 1. In immunocompromised individuals, infection with prototheca can become widespread. Most of these cases have been caused by prototheca wickerhamii, although prototheca zopfi has been recovered from 2 patients. A 50micrograms clotrimazole disk provides a rapid and reliable means of distinguishing p. Prototheca is an alga that reproduces by endosporulation and rarely causes infections in humans. Prototheca medical definition merriamwebster medical.
Despite being ubiquitous in nature and endemic in cattle, they rarely cause infection in humans. Activity of serbian aronia prunifolia against prototheca. Utex 1533 prototheca wickerhamii utex culture collection. Prototheca is a genus of algae in the family chlorellaceae. It and its close relative helicosporidium are unusual in that they are actually green algae that have become parasites. Two clinical isolates of prototheca wickerhamii were freezedried, fixed and studied by electron microscopy and were also examined growing in culture medium by phase contrast light microscopy. Dec 20, 2006 the isolate from a canine disseminated protothecosis was identified to be prototheca wickerhamii by its morphological and biochemical characteristics. Pdf identification of prototheca zopfii from bovine mastitis. Molecular characterization of prototheca strains isolated in. The ultrastructure of prototheca wickerhamii springerlink. Pdf simple test for rapid differentiation of prototheca wickerhamii. The algae are unicellular, nonbudding, round to oval spherules with a refractile capsule, and range in size from 512 m p. Identification of prototheca zopfii from bovine mastitis article pdf available in iranian journal of public health 418.
Resting spores placed on fresh medium developed cytoplasmic extensions which sequestrated before proliferation occurred. Genome sequencing of prototheca zopfii genotypes 1 and 2. Infection by prototheca species may be more common than presently realized due to the common expedient of identifying yeastlike isolates as yeastnot candida albicans. The species most often associated with bovine mastitis are p. Prototheca is a colorless algae commonly found in manure, soil and water. Simple new test for rapid differentiation of prototheca. Chronic eosinophilic meningoencephalitis by prototheca wicke.
Our first job is to listen to and observe what our customers need, and meet those needs with. This organism was identified by morphological features and microbiological tests. All chlorella species except chlorella 0 2001 elsevier science inc. The definite diagnosis usually depends on morphological identification of the organisms in wet slide preparations of cultures andor direct identification in tissue specimens. Prototheca zopfii,prototheca wickerhamii, and prototheca stagnora. Prototheca wickerhamii can be found in high density in all domestic and municipal sewage, where it is 10 times more common than other prototheca spp. To atcc valued customers, atcc stands ready to support our customers needs during the coronavirus pandemic.