Use of voriconazole for the treatment of Paecilomyces lilacinus cutaneous infections: case presentation and review of published literature

Abstract

The fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus is a rare but emerging pathogen that causes severe human infections, especially in immunocompromised hosts. It is an important organism to identify due to its poor susceptibility to conventional antifungal drugs, including amphotericin B, itraconazole, and fluconazole. Oculomycosis and cutaneous infections are the two most common manifestations of P. lilacinus infections. Voriconazole has been used successfully to treat P. lilacinus endophthalmitis, but reports of skin and soft tissue infections treated with voriconazole are limited to six prior publications. Our immunocompromised patient had a subcutaneous P. lilacinus infection successfully treated with 3 months of voriconazole therapy.