Indoor Plumbing Drains Are Important Sources For Invasive Fusariosis In Patients With Hematological Disorders: Culture-Based And Metagenomic Analysis

Despite the advances in antifungal drugs, the number of invasive fusariosis (IF) has been increasing in patients with hematological disorders, especially hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients. IF is still a severe infection and refractory to treat because Fusarium is naturally resistant to most of the antifungal drugs. Therefore, prior to infection, avoidance of contact with Fusarium would be critical in immunocompromised patients. However, little is known about the source of Fusarium infection. The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of IF in patients with hematological disorders in Japan and to find out the infectious source of Fusarium and the relationship between Fusarium species isolated from clinical samples and the ones from environment using culture-based and metagenomic methods.