À propos d’un cas de fongémie à Kodamaea ohmeri : difficultés d’identification et revue de la littérature

Abstract

Kodamaea ohmeri is a yeast that has rarely been isolated in human disease. Since the first reported case of fungemia in 1998, 15 cases of local or disseminated infections involving K. ohmeri have been reported. Here, we report the case of a 91-year-old woman who was admitted for impairment of her general condition and underwent a laparotomy because intestinal ischemia was suspected. On day 18, pulmonary embolism was diagnosed. In the following days, she presented intermittent fever, cyanosis of the extremities and an elevated white blood cells counts. Tracheal aspiration, urine and blood cultures revealed the presence of a yeast, first identified on chromogenic media as Candida albicans. The cultures were examined again after 96 hours and after biochemical analysis and molecular sequencing K. ohmeri was identified. Progressive deterioration of respiratory function led to the death of the patient on day 25.