Hypereosinophilic syndrome associated with sepsis due to Paecilomyces fungi disseminated into the liver

Abstract

A 49 year old woman with signs of chronic sepsis, hepatomegaly, and high eosinophil count was under long-term examination including consultations with an oncologist, parasitologist, and hematologist, diagnostic laparotomy, and studies of liver biopsies. Seeding blood samples onto Saburo's medium resulted in the growth of Paecilomyces variotii Bainier colonies. Counting mature spherules of the fungus revealed 59000 spherules per 1 mcl compared with the normal value of 1000-6000 which suggested paecilomycotic etiology of sepsis. The histological study of liver biopsies demonstrated hemorrhagic foci and eosinophilic infiltrates around fungal spherules. The clinical recovery of the patient was achieved after 3 courses of pulsed terbinafine therapy (500 mg/d every other day for 14 days during a month) in combination with vitamins and i/v infusion of 100 ml of a fluconazole solution (2 mg/ml) every third day (10 procedures during a course of therapy).