Rhizopus spp. fungi are ubiquitous in the environment and a rare but substantial cause of infection in immunosuppressed persons and surgery patients. During 2005-2017, an abnormally high number of Rhizopus infections in surgery patients, with no apparent epidemiologic links, were reported in Argentina. To determine the likelihood of a common source of the cluster, we performed whole-genome sequencing on samples collected during 2006-2014. Most isolates were separated by >60 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and we found no evidence for recombination or nonneutral mutation accumulation; these findings do not support common source or patient-to-patient transmission. Assembled genomes of most isolates were ≈25 Mbp, and multiple isolates had substantially larger assembled genomes (43-51 Mbp), indicative of infections with strain types that underwent genome expansion. Whole-genome sequencing has become an essential tool for studying epidemiology of fungal infections. Less discriminatory techniques may miss true relationships, possibly resulting in inappropriate attribution of point source.

中文翻译：

---

与外科手术相关的小孢子根霉感染，阿根廷，2006-2014年。

根霉 真菌在环境中无处不在，是免疫抑制患者和手术患者中罕见但重要的感染原因。在2005年至2017年期间，阿根廷报告了手术患者中根瘤菌感染数量异常高，没有明显的流行病学联系。为了确定该集群常见来源的可能性，我们对2006-2014年期间收集的样本进行了全基因组测序。大多数分离株被> 60个单核苷酸多态性所分隔，我们没有发现重组或非中性突变积累的证据。这些发现不支持共同来源或患者之间的传播。大多数分离株的组装基因组大约为25 Mbp，而多个分离株的组装基因组则更大（43-51 Mbp），指示感染了基因组扩展的菌株类型。全基因组测序已成为研究真菌感染流行病学的重要工具。较少歧视的技术可能会错过真实的关系，从而可能导致对点源的不适当归因。