Prototheca wickerhamii
| Prototheca wickerhamii | ||||||||||||
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Prototheca wickerhamii ( Gram stain ) from the blood of a 79-year-old man with sepsis |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Prototheca wickerhamii | ||||||||||||
| Tsubaki & Soneda |
Prototheca wickerhamii is a ubiquitously occurring green alga , which does not have chlorophyll has. It is widespread in the normal environment and in rare cases can cause a disease in humans called protothecosis , which usually manifests itself in the form of skin lesions. The species was first described in 1959.
biology
P. wickerhamii is a unicellular alga, spherical to elliptical in shape and 3 to 10 μm in diameter. The thick-walled cell ( theca ) has a cell wall with two layers that can be distinguished by an electron microscope and contains 2 to 20 symmetrical, mulberry-like arranged endospores . Reproduction occurs asexually by destroying the mother cell and releasing the spores, which develop into new adult cells. Under ideal conditions, spores are released every 5 to 6 hours.
P. wickerhamii has neither chloroplasts nor chlorophyll. The alga therefore cannot photosynthesize , but lives heterotrophically .
ID
The presence of P. wickerhamii as a pathogen can be examined for sporangia by culture of infected liquid in Sabouraud dextrose agar or by microscopic examination of tissue samples .
Antimicrobial Therapy
The treatment of infections with P. wickerhamii is not standardized. Amphotericin B , itraconazole , posaconazole and voriconazole were used.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Curbelo A & Pankey GA: A man presenting with nodules on hands and elbows . In: Clin Infect Dis . 48, 2009, pp. 1160-1161. doi : 10.1086 / 597466 . PMID 19292636 .
- ↑ K. Tsubaki and M. Soneda: Cultural and taxonomical studies on Prototheca. In: Nagaoa 1959: 25-34
- ↑ a b Lass-Flörl C, Mayr A. Human protothecosis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2007 Apr; 20 (2): 230-42. Review. PMID 17428884