PROTOTHECOSIS, AN INFECTION BY ALGAE

Abstract

ABSTRACT A case of protothecosis affecting the skin of the face of a young Chinese girl due to Prototheca wickerhamii is reported from Hong Kong. The disease persisted for eighteen years, was slowly progressive with local spread and extension to neighbouring conjunctival mucosa, and to the contralateral cheek by way of lymphatics, without systemic involvement. The source of infection could not be traced, and factors relating to the mode of onset were not known. There was no apparent defect in the immune mechanism in the otherwise healthy patient. Several antibiotics including polymyxin B, and amphotericin B given by various routes had failed to control the disease. The evolution of different patterns of protothecosis is discussed in the light of scanty case reports in the literature.