滝澤 香代子

We present here the first case in the People's Republic of China of human disease caused by the fungus Arthrographis kalrae. The male patient had fungal panophthalmitis and invasive sinusitis involving the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses. He was an apparently healthy man before receiving trauma to his left eye. He complained of pain and loss of visual acuity in the injured eye, which displayed redness and edema and eventually discharged pus. His symptoms became more severe after he was treated with steroids and several antibacterial agents. A computed tomography scan of the left eye revealed that the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses were involved. A smear of purulent material from the left eye orbit revealed fungal elements, and cultures of the material grew a fungus. The isolate was identified as A. kalrae based on gross and microscopic morphologies, biochemical assays, and DNA sequence analysis. The patient received amphotericin B intravenously, itraconazole orally, and atomized allitridum by nebulizing allitridum therapy. The patient's wound healed following surgical intervention, but the patient lost the use of his left eye. This case should remind ophthalmologists and other clinicians to consider the possibility of infections being fungal when antibacterial agents have no effect and the patient's condition worsens.

We present here the first case in the People's Republic of China of human disease caused by the fungus Arthrographis kalrae. The male patient had fungal panophthalmitis and invasive sinusitis involving the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses. He was an apparently healthy man before receiving trauma to his left eye. He complained of pain and loss of visual acuity in the injured eye, which displayed redness and edema and eventually discharged pus. His symptoms became more severe after he was treated with steroids and several antibacterial agents. A computed tomography scan of the left eye revealed that the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses were involved. A smear of purulent material from the left eye orbit revealed fungal elements, and cultures of the material grew a fungus. The isolate was identified as A. kalrae based on gross and microscopic morphologies, biochemical assays, and DNA sequence analysis. The patient received amphotericin B intravenously, itraconazole orally, and atomized allitridum by nebulizing allitridum therapy. The patient's wound healed following surgical intervention, but the patient lost the use of his left eye. This case should remind ophthalmologists and other clinicians to consider the possibility of infections being fungal when antibacterial agents have no effect and the patient's condition worsens.

Cladophialophora carrionii is one of the relatively common causative agents of chromoblastomycosis. We have developed the specific oligonucleotide primer set based on the internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA for the rapid identification of this pathogen. PCR with this primer set amplified a 362-bp amplicon from C. carrionii strains. From other relevant dematiaceous species, including medically important dematiaceous fungi, such as Fonsecaea pedrosoi, Phialophora verrucosa, and Exophiala dermatitidis, and eight species of medically important yeasts, such as Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans, the primer set did not produce any amplicon. PCR with this primer set may be a useful tool for the identification of C. carrionii.