Spondylodiscitis due to an emergent fungal pathogen: Blastoschizomyces capitatus, a case report and review of the literature.

Aygul Dogan Celik, Resat Ozaras, Serda Kantarcioglu, Ali Mert, Fehmi Tabak, Recep Ozturk

Journal: Rheumatology international 2009;29(10):1237-41

PMID: 19370350

Abstract

The study includes a case report and a literature review. The main objective of this study is to present a case of spondylodiscitis due to a fungal pathogen, Blastoschizomyces capitatus and to review the published literature on this emergent fungus in etiology of spondylodiscitis, and osteomyelitis. Osteoarticular involvement due to B. capitatus has been reported in six cases, and vertebral involvement has been seen in five of them. All of these cases had underlying malignancy. Infection is usually advanced at presentation. Case notes and online databases were reviewed. Organism was isolated from bone material in all of the cases and antibiotic treatment by antifungal agents cured the infection. We present another case of infectious spondylodiscitis due to B. capitaus, which is reported first in Turkey and tried to attract attendance to this emergent fungal pathogen as an etiologic agent of spine infections in cancer patients.

Address: Trakya University School of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey. [email protected]

DOI: 10.1007/s00296-009-0928-1

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https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00296-009-0928-1

MeSH Terms: Aged, Amphotericin B, Antifungal Agents, Dipodascus, Discitis, Fluconazole, Humans, Itraconazole, Ketoconazole, Lumbar Vertebrae, Male, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Naphthalenes, Opportunistic Infections, Radiography, Terbinafine, Treatment Outcome