Peripheral blood and bone marrow cells cultivated in Novy-Mcneal-Nicolle medium for visceral leishmaniosis diagnosis revealed Rhodotorula fungemia in an AIDS patient with lymphoma

• Published in: Clinical laboratory (Heidelberg) Vol. 59; no. 1-2; p. 215
• Main Authors: Paugam, Andre, Lebuisson, Agathe, Lortholary, Olivier, Baixench, Marie-Therese, Lanternier, Fanny
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany 2013
• Subjects: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - complications; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - diagnosis; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - drug therapy; Amphotericin B - therapeutic use; Antifungal Agents - therapeutic use; Culture Media; Fungemia - complications; Fungemia - diagnosis; Fungemia - drug therapy; Fungemia - microbiology; Humans; Leishmaniasis, Visceral - complications; Leishmaniasis, Visceral - diagnosis; Lymphoma, AIDS-Related - complications; Male; Middle Aged; Rhodotorula - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 1433-6510
• DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2012.120711

Rhodotorula is a ubiquitous yeast that can infect immunocompromised patients. Here, we present the case of a 45-year-old patient with AIDS who developed a Rhodotorula mucilaginosa fungemia. The patient had a past history of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and was hospitalised to receive chemotherapy for a B-cell lymphoma of the sinonasal cavities. The patient had no fever and no signs of VL. A systematic research for Leishmania by blood and bone marrow cultures was made and he received liposomal amphtotericin B (3 mg/kg in a single dose) to prevent a VL relapse. Rhodotorula fungemia was accidentally detected after 17 days of blood culture using a specific medium for leishmaniasis diagnosis. This long culture incubation time was probably facilitated by amphotericin B treatment. Rhodotorula is an emerging pathogen that may escape detection due its slow growth in culture.