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Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis: an emerging fungal infection causing bowel perforation in a child
Journal of Medical Microbiology, 08/19/2011
Exclusive author commentary
El–Shabrawi MHF et al. – Basidiobolomycosis is an unusual fungal skin infection that rarely involves the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The authors report a 10–year–old boy diagnosed as suffering GI basidiobolomycosis after being misdiagnosed first as suffering intestinal malignancy then schistosomiasis. This case emphasizes the need to consider GI basidiobolomycosis in children presenting with fever, abdominal mass and eosinophilia, especially those complicated by bowel perforation.
Mortada H. F. El-Shabrawi (08/19/2011) comments:
Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis is an emerging fungal infection that might lead to diagnostic confusion, morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion in any child presenting with the triad of:- high-grade fever, abdominal pain with mass, and marked peripheral blood eosinophilia. Culture is the gold standard for diagnosis, but in our era, molecular diagnosis is confirmatory. Long-term itraconazol treatment gives the best results.
