COVID-19-associated brain abscess caused by Trichosporon dohaense: A case report and review of literature

Arghadip Samaddar; Jyoti Diwakar; Priya Krishnan; H B Veena Kumari; M Kavya; Subhas Konar; Dinesh A Sharma; B N Nandeesh; Aditi Goyal; S Nagarathna

doi:10.1016/j.mmcr.2021.12.002

COVID-19-associated brain abscess caused by Trichosporon dohaense: A case report and review of literature

Med Mycol Case Rep. 2022 Mar:35:9-14. doi: 10.1016/j.mmcr.2021.12.002. Epub 2021 Dec 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuromicrobiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, 560029, Karnataka, India.
² Department of Neurosurgery, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, 560029, Karnataka, India.
³ Department of Neuroimaging & Interventional Radiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, 560029, Karnataka, India.
⁴ Department of Neuropathology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, 560029, Karnataka, India.

Abstract

We report the first case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated brain abscess caused by a rare Trichosporon species, T. dohaense. The patient was a known diabetic and had received systemic corticosteroids for the treatment of COVID-19. He underwent craniotomy and evacuation of abscess. The pus aspirate grew a basidiomycetous yeast, morphologically resembling Trichosporon species. The isolate was initially misidentified by VITEK® MS due to lack of mass spectral database of T. dohaense. Accurate identification was achieved by internal transcribed spacer-directed panfungal polymerase chain reaction. The patient had a favorable outcome following surgical intervention and antifungal therapy.

Keywords: Brain abscess; COVID-19; Internal transcribed spacer; MALDI-TOF MS; MALDI-TOF MS, Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry; Trichosporon dohaense.

Publication types

Case Reports