Uncommon Fungi Isolated from Diabetic Patients Toenails Uncommon Fungi Isolated from Diabetic Patients Toenails With or Without Visible Onychomycoses

Abstract

Kodamaea ohmeri and Prototheca wickerhamiiare rare pathogens for humans, and even morerare as cause of onychomycosis. This work reports thesecond case of onychomycosis by K. ohmeri and thefourth of onycoprotothecosis; it was made in publichealth institutions in the Hidalgo State, Mexico,studying 261 diabetic patients during 2005 and 2006.Kodamaea ohmeri was isolated from toenails of a51-year-old female patient, and P. wickerhamii fromthree female patients of 48, 49, and 61 years old,respectively, all of them with type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM 2). Identifications were done by standardmicrobiological methods and a commercial system.Only one patient infected with P. wickerhamii showedmixed infection with dermatophytes. Out of the totalstudied DM 2 patients, 1.15% presented onycoprotothecosisand 0.38% onychomycosis by K. ohmeri, highpercentages if it is considered that few cases have beenreported of K. ohmeri and P. wickerhamii as onychomycosiscausal agents.