Parengyodontium album is a very rarely encountered opportunistic fungal pathogen. A severely neutropenic 11-year-old boy with acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma was febrile and lethargic during his admission for elective chemotherapy. No cutaneous lesion or obvious source of infection was noted, and clinical examination was otherwise unremarkable. A blood specimen was sent for culture and fungal elements were visualized. Amphotericin B was administered empirically while awaiting fungal identification. Morphologically, a hyaline mould with thin septate hyphae plus smooth-walled conidiophores and conidiogenous cells arranged in whorls of up to four was cultured. Internal transcribed spacer region sequencing identified the fungus conclusively as P. album. Repeat blood culture was also positive for the same fungus. Following a two-week course of amphotericin B, fungemia clearance was attained.
Keywords: Amphotericin B; Engyodontium album; Parengyodontium album; internal transcribed spacer.
Copyright (c) 2022 Nurdiyana Mohamed, Chuan Hun Ding, Asrul Abdul Wahab, Mohd Nizam Tzar, Murnihayati Hassan.