First case of fungal rhinosinusitis due to Aspergillus nomius in a child with aplastic anaemia

Abstract

Recently, infections caused by Aspergillus species have increased dramatically. Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients, such as those with haematological malignancies who undergo chemotherapy, bone marrow and solid organ transplant recipients, and patients with other immunodeficiency. The most common species causing invasive infections include Aspergillus fumigatus, followed by Aspergillus flavus. Aspergillus nomius is an anamorphic species belonging to Aspergillus section Flavi, which currently include 22 species that can be grouped into seven clades (Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus tamarii, Aspergillus nomius, Petromyces alliaceus, Aspergillus togoensis, Aspergillus leporis and Aspergillus avenaceus) based on morphological characters, sequence data, and extrolite profiles. These species may also produce toxic and carcinogenic aflatoxins. However, Aspergillus nomius is an emerging pathogen as a cause of IA; we found only two reported cases of invasive infection caused by this fungus in literature up till now. We reported a case of fungal rhinosinusitis caused by Aspergillus nomius in a child with aplastic anaemia and to our knowledge, it is the first case as an agent of rhinosinusitis. The isolate was identified by sequencing based methods.