Abstract

Fusarium causes a broad spectrum of human diseases which can be superficial, locally invasive or disseminated. In immuno-competent host, it causes allergic sinusitis or chronic non-invasive sinusitis while in immuno-compromised patients it causes invasive sinusitis. In this paper, the authors present a case of a 15-year-old boy who was admitted in the pediatric ward of PGIMER Dr. RML hospital, New Delhi, India with history of spontaneous erosion of dorsum of nose. Local examination showed complete erosion of dorsum of nose. The nasal debris was then sent to the Microbiology department for fungal culture and microscopy. On microscopic examination, branched septate hyphae were seen. The culture on Sabouraud’s Dextrose Agar (SDA) showed cottony white growth initially after 1 week of incubation and this growth later showed grayish pigmentation. The lactophenol cotton blue (LPCB) mount of this growth showed septate hyphae along with typical hyaline, multi-septate, curved sickle shaped macroconidia. A tentative diagnosis of fungal sinusitis by Fusarium Spp. was done in this case.

Highlights

  • Fusarium spp. is a common soil saprophyte and an important plant pathogen that causes various diseases like head blight, crown rot etc. (Nelson 1994) It causes a broad spectrum of infections in humans which includes superficial infections like onychomycosis and keratitis and disseminated infections occurring exclusively in severely immuno-compromised patients. (Nucci 2002) Allergic diseases like sinusitis and mycotoxicosis following ingestion of toxins produced by fusarium are known to occur. (Nelson 1994).Among immuno-competent patients, tissue breakdown is the risk factor for fusariosis

  • Fusarium causes a broad spectrum of human diseases which can be superficial, locally invasive or disseminated

  • The organism is usually acquired in the community among normal hosts and in the hospital setting in the patients severely immunocompromised

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Fusarium spp. is a common soil saprophyte and an important plant pathogen that causes various diseases like head blight, crown rot etc. (Nelson 1994) It causes a broad spectrum of infections in humans which includes superficial infections like onychomycosis and keratitis and disseminated infections occurring exclusively in severely immuno-compromised patients. (Nucci 2002) Allergic diseases like sinusitis and mycotoxicosis following ingestion of toxins produced by fusarium are known to occur. (Nelson 1994). Fusarium spp. is a common soil saprophyte and an important plant pathogen that causes various diseases like head blight, crown rot etc. (Nelson 1994) It causes a broad spectrum of infections in humans which includes superficial infections like onychomycosis and keratitis and disseminated infections occurring exclusively in severely immuno-compromised patients. Among immuno-competent patients, tissue breakdown (as caused by trauma, severe burns or foreign body) is the risk factor for fusariosis. Risk factors for disseminated fusariosis include severe immunosuppression (neutropenia, lymphopenia, graft-versus-host disease, corticosteroids), colonisation, tissue damage and receipt of a graft from an HLA-. 90%), skin lesions and sino-pulmonary infections (approximately 75%).The most frequent cause of human infections is F. solani, more than 50 species of fusarium have been identified, including plant and animal pathogens. The organism is usually acquired in the community among normal hosts and in the hospital setting in the patients severely immunocompromised

Case Report
Discussion
Findings
Inf Ection by Fusarium Species in Healthy and Immunocompromised
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call