Rhodococcus equi is an animal pathogen and zoonotic human opportunistic pathogen associated with immunosuppressive conditions. The pathogenicity of R. equi is linked to three animal host-associated virulence plasmids encoding a family of “Virulence Associated Proteins” (VAPs). Here, the PCR-based TRAVAP molecular typing system for the R. equi virulence plasmids was applied to 26 R. equi strains isolated between 2010 and 2016 at the Institute of Tropical Medicine “Pedro Kourí,” Cuba, from individuals living with HIV/AIDS. TRAVAP detects 4 gene markers, traA common to the three virulence plasmids, and vapA, vapB, and vapN specific to each of the host-associated plasmid types (equine pVAPA, porcine pVAPB, and ruminant pVAPN). Of the 26 isolates, six were positive to the vapB (porcine-type) marker, 4 (15.4%) to the vapA (equine-type) marker, and 1 (3.8%) to the vapN (ruminant-type) marker. Most of the isolates 14 (53.8%) were negative to all TRAVAP markers, suggesting they lacked a virulence plasmid. To our knowledge, this work is the first to report the molecular characterization of R. equi isolates from Cuba. Our findings provide insight into the zoonotic origin of R. equi infections in people and the potential dispensability of the virulence plasmid in immunosuppressed patients.

马红球菌是与免疫抑制条件相关的动物病原体和人畜共患的人机会病原体。的致病性马齿与三个动物宿主相关的毒力质粒连接，该质粒编码“毒力相关蛋白”（VAP）家族。在这里，基于PCR的TRAVAP分子分型系统马齿 毒力质粒应用于26 马齿于2010年至2016年间在古巴“佩德罗·库里”热带医学研究所从艾滋病毒/艾滋病感染者中分离出了这些菌株。TRAVAP可检测4种基因标记，TRAA 三种毒力质粒共有的 vapA，vapB， 和 vapN对每种与宿主相关的质粒类型（马pVAPA，猪pVAPB和反刍动物pVAPN）具有特异性。在26株分离株中，有6株对vapB （猪型）标记，占（猪型）标记的4（15.4％） 汽水 （马类型）标记，并在标记（1）（3.8％） vapN（反刍动物型）标记。大多数分离株14（53.8％）对所有TRAVAP标记均为阴性，表明它们缺乏毒力质粒。据我们所知，这项工作是第一个报告马齿从古巴分离出来。我们的发现提供了对人畜共患病起源的见解。马齿 人感染以及在免疫抑制患者中毒力质粒的潜在可分配性。