Fusarium volatile, a new potential pathogen from a human respiratory sample

We describe the isolation and characterization of Fusarium volatile from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of a female patient living in French Guiana with underlying pulmonary infections. Phylogenetic analysis of fragments of the calmodulin (cmdA), translation elongation factor (tef1), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (rpb2), and β-tubulin (tub) loci revealed that strain CBS 143874 was closely related to isolate NRRL 25615, a known but undescribed phylogenetic species belonging to the African clade of the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex. The fungus differed phylogenetically and morphologically from related known species; hence it is described as the new taxon Fusarium volatile. Antifungal susceptibility testing suggested that the new species is resistant to echinocandins, fluconazole, itraconazole with lower MICs against amphotericin B, voriconazole and posaconazole.