The Departments of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705-2281, United States.
Fungal Genet Biol. 2013 Dec;61:143-5. doi: 10.1016/j.fgb.2013.08.014. Epub 2013 Sep 6.
In 2012 the medical community in the United States faced an unprecedented outbreak of fungal meningitis caused by Exserohilum rostratum associated with injections of contaminated lots of methyprednilsone acetate. Rapid response by public health authorities led to the identification of the cause of the outbreak and the epidemic quickly abated, even though new cases were still being reported many months later. Although the cause of the outbreak is known there are many uncertainties regarding the management of infected individuals and the long term risk for those who were exposed to this organism. The epidemic of E. rostratum infections illustrates how an organism that normally has low pathogenic potential for humans can transform into a very dangerous pathogen when conditions are changed such that skin barriers are breached while it is simultaneously delivered with an immunosuppressive drug. Furthermore, this epidemic highlights the potential threats to human and animal health from the fungal kingdom.
2012 年，美国医学界面临着一场由与受污染的甲泼尼龙醋酸酯注射相关的罗托沙姆耳霉引起的真菌性脑膜炎的空前爆发。公共卫生当局的快速反应导致了疫情爆发的原因被确定，疫情迅速得到缓解，尽管在随后的几个月里仍有新病例报告。尽管疫情爆发的原因已经确定，但对于感染者的管理以及接触该病原体的人存在长期风险等问题仍存在许多不确定因素。罗托沙姆耳霉感染的流行说明了一种对人类致病性较低的生物体，在条件发生变化时，如皮肤屏障被破坏，同时被一种免疫抑制剂药物给药时，它如何转化为一种非常危险的病原体。此外，这场疫情突显了真菌界对人类和动物健康的潜在威胁。
