First report of white piedra caused by Cutaneotrichosporon debeurmannianum

Abstract

Piedras are small nodules found on the hair shafts. White piedra was initially described as caused by Trichosporon beigelii, which was later reclassified in several species. We describe the first case of white piedra caused by Cutaneotrichosporon debeurmannianum. Affected hairs were examined in natura with scanning electron microscopy, after gold metallization. The typical whitish cerebriform creamy colony was obtained in Sabouraud medium. Fungal genomic DNA extracted from cultures and locus was amplified with the NL1/NL4 primer pair from the D1/D2 region of the large ribosomal subunit (LSU) of 28S rRNA. With scanning electron microscopy, nodules are easily identified surrounding the hair shaft; with high magnifications, rounded structures adhered to each other were identified. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of IMT-1703 Cutaneotrichosporon debeurmannianum revealed 99.6% similarity with the 28S large ribosomal unit rDNA sequence. This case of white piedra was caused by Cutaneotrichosporon debeurmannianum.