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During the past four decades, seven patients were documented in China to have died from Exophiala infections. Causative agents were Exophiala dermatitidis, Exophiala spinifera, Exophiala jeanselmei and a new Exophiala species, Exophiala asiatica. We retrospectively analysed the clinical characteristics of these infections in China and confirmed the identity of aetiological agents of Chinese fatal cases using rDNA ITS sequence analysis. While E. dermatitidis displayed neurotropism, E. spinifera showed osteotropism. The other two species, E. jeanselmei and E. asiatica had caused brain infections in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A screening of 2300 samples of faeces from humans with and without underlying disease revealed that the black yeastExophiala dermatitidisis present at a frequency of 5.2‰ (n = 12). Eight individuals positive for the fungus had diarrhoea at the moment of its isolation, out of 11 where relevant information was available. Judging from repeated isolation over several weeks in one patient, the organism is able to persist in the human intestinal tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]