Oral manifestations of sporotrichosis: A neglected disease

Abstract

Sporotrichosis is an uncommon subacute or chronic infection caused by Sporothrix spp. In some urban areas of Latin America, sporotrichosis has been considered an emergent cosmopolitan disease of zoonotic transmission by domestic cats. There are four different clinical forms of the disease: fixed cutaneous, lymphocutaneous, multifocal or disseminated cutaneous, and extracutaneous. The oral mucosa is rarely involved, usually as unspecified chronic ulcers in the context of multifocal or disseminated cutaneous form of systemic sporotrichosis. Microscopical features include chronic granulomatous inflammation containing microabscesses and fungal hyphae positive for Periodic acid Schiff and silver-based stains. The diagnosis of sporotrichosis is usually based on culture detection and strict correlation of clinical, microscopical and laboratorial data. We herein contribute with two additional illustrative cases of oral manifestation of sporotrichosis in immunocompromised patients from an endemic urban area from Rio de Janeiro-Brazil. Key words:Sporotrichosis, ulcer, oral cavity, immunosuppression.