ABSTRACT
Paecilomyces species are widespread soil saprophytes [1]. Fungal infections caused by these species are not common despite their ubiquity in the human’s environment [2,3]. These species have been mainly described as the cause of hyalohyphomycosis associated with traumatic inoculation and contamination of human skin or prosthetic devices. In the last few years, Paecilomyces have been reported in occasional cases of sinusitis or pulmonary infection af¼icting immunosuppressant patients after inhalation of their conidia [3,4] and even as the cause of disseminated mycoses in some patients with predisposing factors [5,6]. Paecilomyces lilacinus and Paecilomyces variotii are the species most frequently involved in human infection. The differentiation between these two species is clinically important, since P. lilacinus and P. variotii seem to present marked differences in their in vitro susceptibility to the antifungal agents. P. lilacinus is resistant to amphotericin B and itraconazole, while other compounds such as posaconazole and voriconazole have good in vitro activity against this fungus. In contrast, P. variotii exhibits lower minimal inhibitory concentrations
(MIC) of amphotericin B, itraconazole, and of new azoles but in vitro resistance to voriconazole has been reported [7]. In addition, the echinocandins show good in vitro activity against P. variotii, while P. lilacinus is not susceptible to this family of antifungal compounds [7-9].
