Fusarium and Other Opportunistic Hyaline Fungi

Abstract The opportunistic hyaline or lightly colored molds constitute a phylogenetically diverse group of common to rare fungi, some of which are only known to reproduce asexually while others possess sexual and asexual life cycles. Serologic procedures currently have little clinical utility in the diagnosis of uncommon hyaline opportunistic fungi. Identification of uncommon hyaline molds should always be evaluated considering the patient's immune status as well as the anatomic site of recovery and frequency of isolation. This chapter describes the salient colony and microscopic features of medically important species in the genus Fusarium and other select hyaline opportunists. As for Aspergillus and Candida , multilocus DNA typing systems have been developed to identify clinically and veterinary important isolates of Fusarium . The typical antifungal susceptibility profiles of Fusarium species are of relative resistance to most antifungal agents.