Report and Review of a Case of Fusarium Infection from KUT in The Middle of IRAQ

Fusarium species is a ubiquitous fungus that causes opportunistic infections, those isolates are universally found in the environment and cause infection in both humans and plants [1-5]. In humans, infection starts with the inhalation of Fusarium conidia or by direct contact with Fusarium conidia. Subsequently, conidia germinate and form filaments that invade the surrounding tissue when a suitable environment is offered, clinical presentation of fusariosis depends on the host’s immune status. Invasive infections, such as sinusitis, pneumonia, deep cutaneous infections are the commonest in immunocompramized cases, On the other hand, immunocompetent patients present more frequently with superficial infections, such as keratitis and onychomycosis [6-8].

38 years old female teacher living at AL-KUT city, Wasset ,Iraq presented to medical city at November 2019, complaining of recurrent attacks of productive cough, with yellowish thick sputum with foul smell, she had low grade fever, nasal stuffiness with repeated attacks of shortness of breath relieved by broncho- dilator inhaler and repeated courses of steroids therapy, she lived in a rural area and she tend to raise chicken in her house back yard, her condition worsen each winter.

She came seeking medical advice in our hospital, her chest X-ray was normal with sight increase in bronchial marking, sputum sample was taken by medical mycology laboratory to be cultured on SDA media, blood agar and Brain heart agar. After two days of incubation multiple colonies of dark gray fluffy molds with elevated edges, wet mount was prepared to show banana shaped spores as shown in Figure 1. This is the first case to be diagnosed in our lab for 8 years of data collection with in 2500 cases.

Figure 1:

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