A mould in the fold should never grow old: cutaneous aspergillosis in a preterm neonate

Abstract

A boy born at 25 weeks of gestation (birth weight 560 g) due to feto-fetal transfusion syndrome (mono-chorionic, di-amniotic gemini) was noticed on his ninth day of life to have multiple skin lesions on the abdomen, buttocks, and thighs (Figure 1A, B). The mother and his twin brother had no apparent skin abnormalities. Microbiological cultures from skin swabs and scrapings yielded growth of moulds, suggestive of Aspergillus species (Figure 1C-G). Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry confirmed Aspergillus fumigatus.