Disseminated mycosis due to Scedosporium prolificans in an AIDS patient with Burkitt lymphoma

Abstract
A case of fatal disseminated infection caused by the dematiaceous hyphomycete Scedosporium prolificans diagnosed post mortem is reported in a 60-year-old male patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who additionally suffered from Burkitt's lymphoma. The patient was significantly granulocytopenic following aggressive chemotherapy and irradiation. He developed dyspnoea at rest and chest pain despite a normal chest radiograph. Fluconazole treatment was carried out empirically because no sign of a fungal infection was detected ante mortem, either by mycological cultivation or by serological investigation. First post-mortem examination revealed a disseminated fungal infection involving the central nervous system. Scedosporium prolificans was cultured from the kidney, spleen and myocardium. In vitro, the fungal isolate was found to be highly resistant to all available systemic antimycotics.