ISOLATION OF A PARACOCCIDIOIDES-BRASILIENSIS STRAIN FROM THE SOIL OF A COFFEE PLANTATION IN IBIA, STATE OF MINAS-GERAIS, BRAZIL

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis has rarely been isolated from its habita t in rural areas. In order to investigate the hypothesis that human in fection with this fungus is linked to coffee plantations (Coffea arabi ca), material was collected monthly over a period of 1 year from farms in the town of Ibia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A total of 760 sa mples of soil, coffee leaves and fruits was cultured and inoculated in to mice. A fungus isolated from the liver of a mouse inoculated with s oil showed temperature-dependent dimorphism and in vitro mycelium and yeast phases characteristic of P. brasiliensis. Yeast cells of this fu ngus caused disseminated infection after intraperitoneal inoculation i n Wistar rats from which the fungus was re-isolated. An antigen reacti ng with sera from patients with paracoccidioidomycosis was obtained fr om this P. brasiliensis strain; antigenic identity with strain 339 and with four other P. brasiliensis strains was detected by gel immunodif fusion. However, when the exo-antigen was submitted to SDS-PAGE, we ob served low gp43 expression in this new strain, which we called Ibia. T he isolation of P. brasiliensis from the soil at a coffee plantation s uggests that this is one of its habitats and supports the hypothesis o f acquisition of paracoccidioidomycosis during agricultural activity i n these areas.