Two cases of Cokeromyces recurvatus in liquid-based Papanicolaou tests and a review of the literature

• Published in: Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine (1976) Vol. 136; no. 12; p. 1593
• Main Authors: Odronic, Shelley I, Scheidemantel, Thomas, Tuohy, Marion J, Chute, Deborah, Procop, Gary W, Booth, Christine N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: College of American Pathologists 01.12.2012
• Subjects: DNA; Health aspects
• ISSN: 1543-2165; 1543-2165
• DOI: 10.5858/arpa.2011-0493-CR)

* We present 2 cases of Cokeromyces recurvatus in routine, liquid-based Papanicolaou tests (ThinPrep). Patient 1 is a healthy, asymptomatic, 26-year-old woman with no pertinent past medical history. Patient 2 is a healthy, asymptomatic, 47-year-old woman with no pertinent past medical history. The Papanicolaou tests from both patients showed many fungal-like elements as globose, yeastlike forms measuring 10 to 30 µm in diameter with multiple, narrowly attached apparent "daughter" buds. This morphology was consistent with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. However, broad-range fungal polymerase chain reaction and deoxyribonucleic acid sequence analysis performed with GenBank Basic Local Alignment Search Tool showed an exact match for C recurvatus. Our cases highlight the importance of molecular techniques to prevent misdiagnosis of C recurvatus as P brasiliensis, based on morphology alone. There have been 8 previously published cases of C recurvatus infection in humans, 3 of which were reported in the female genital tract.