Torulopsis glabrata— An Opportunistic Pathogen in Man

A prospective study of the pathogenicity of Torulopsis glabrata was prompted by an increasing recognition of the organism in clinical specimens. The yeast was isolated 130 times from 37 patients in a general hospital over a 16-month period. T. glabrata was assigned a pathogenic role in 11 patients. Ten of the 11 patients had major underlying illnesses, and had been treated with antibiotics, steroids and other immunosuppressive drugs. Four patients had T. glabrata fungemia, all of whom died after febrile illnesses accompanied by hypotension. Histologic evidence of tissue invasion by T. glabrata was demonstrated at autopsy in six patients from whom the organism had been isolated ante mortem. A review of 15 previously reported cases and the data in this study indicate that T. glabrata is an opportunistic pathogen in the compromised host.