Subcutaneous hyalohyphomycosis caused by Fusarium in a kidney transplant recipient

• Published in: Renal Failure Vol. 36; no. 7; pp. 1129 - 1132
• Main Authors: Keskar, Vaibhav S., Wanjare, Shashir, Jamale, Tukaram E., Mahajan, Dinesh, Jawale, Sunil Y., Fernandes, Gwendolyn, Suryawanshi, Rupali, Hase, N. K.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01.08.2014
• Subjects: Fusarium; hyalohyphomycosis; kidney transplantation
• ISSN: 0886-022X; 1525-6049
• DOI: 10.3109/0886022X.2014.926756

Fusarium is a filamentous opportunistic pathogenic fungus responsible for superficial as well as invasive infection in immunocompromized hosts. Net state of immunosuppression and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection appear to predispose to this disease which is life-threatening when disseminated. Though infections with Fusarium have been widely described in hematological malignancies and hematopoietic stem cell transplant cases, they have been reported to be rare in solid organ transplant recipients, are often localized and carry a favorable prognosis. We here describe a rare case of subcutaneous non-invasive infection with Fusarium in a renal allograft recipient two and half years after transplantation. Patient had a previous history of CMV infection along with multiple other recurrent co-infections. Diagnosis was based on culture of tissue specimens yielding Fusarium species. The infection had a protracted course with persistence of lesions after treatment with voriconazole alone, requiring a combination of complete surgical excision and therapy with the anti-fungal drug.