Trichosporon sepsis and leukemia

Abstract

Trichosporon cutaneum is a fungus known to cause superficial nodules over the distal third of hair shafts, mainly scalp hair, and to produce a clinical entity known as piedra. This superficial mycosis occurs mostly in temperate and tropical regions and is rarely seen in North America. Trichosporon cutaneum spesis is described here in a 12-year-old boy with acute lymphocytic leukemia in relapse. To our knowledge this is the first case reported in the literature. Emphasis is made of the increasing rate of fungal diseases as well as of "opportunistic" infections in this type of immunosuppressed patient.