DESCRIPTIONS OF MEDICAL FUNGI

Descriptions of Medical Fungi 81
Debaryomyces hansenii (Zopf) Lodder & Kreger-van Rij.
Synonymy: Candida famata (Harrison) S.A. Meyer & Yarrow.
Debaryomyces hansenii is a common environmental isolate. It may be isolated from
human skin, and is only rarely recovered from blood stream infections. RG-1 organism.
Culture: Colonies (SDA) white to cream-coloured smooth, glabrous, yeast-like.
Microscopy: Ovoid to broadly ellipsoidal budding blastoconidia, 3.5-5 x 2-3.5 µm
in size. No pseudohyphae produced. Asci when present are spherical, persistent,
containing one to two spherical ascospores with rough walls.
India Ink Preparation: Negative - no capsules present.
Dalmau Plate Culture: Spherical to ovoid budding yeast cells only. Pseudohyphae are
usually lacking.
Molecular Identification: ITS sequencing recommended.
MALDI-TOF MS: Able to accurately identify this species.
Physiological Tests: + Positive, - Negative, v Variable, w Weak, s Slow
Germ Tube - L-Sorbose v L-Arabinose +,w D-Glucitol +,w
Fermentation Sucrose + D-Arabinose v α-M-D-glucoside +
Glucose -,w Maltose + D-Ribose v D-Gluconate +,w
Galactose -,w Cellobiose + L-Rhamnose v DL-Lactate v
Sucrose -,w Trehalose + D-Glucosamine v myo-Inositol -
Maltose -,w Lactose v N-A-D-glucosamine v 2-K-D-gluconate +
Lactose - Melibiose v Glycerol + D-Glucuronate v
Trehalose -,w Raffinose + Erythritol v Nitrate -
Assimilation Melezitose v Ribitol + Urease -
Glucose + Soluble Starch v Galactitol v 0.1% Cycloheximide v
Galactose + D-Xylose + D-Mannitol + Growth at 40 O C -
Key Features: Germ tube negative yeast and sugar assimilation pattern.
Antifungal Susceptibility: D. hansenii (Diekema et al. 2009, Beyda et al. 2013,
Espinel-Ingroff et al. 2014, Australian National data); MIC µg/mL.
No. 64
AmB 27 1 3 7 13 2 1
FLU 76 9 18 13 9 8 11 2 3 3
VORI 79 8 11 27 16 9 4 2 1 1
POSA 72 8 11 20 12 8 8 2 3
ITRA 11 2 1 3 2 1 2
ANID 23 1 2 1 1 0 8 10
MICA 23 1 3 1 2 8 5 3
CAS 26 1 2 3 8 5 4 1 2
5FC 11 1 5 1 1 1 2