Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Sep-Oct:31:101378.
doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2019.01.013. Epub 2019 Jan 17.

Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis: An emerging mycosis difficult to diagnose but curable. Case report and review of the literature

Affiliations
Free article
Review

Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis: An emerging mycosis difficult to diagnose but curable. Case report and review of the literature

Maria Diletta Pezzani et al. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2019 Sep-Oct.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is a rare mycosis affecting almost exclusively immunocompetent subjects.

Methods: We describe a case of GIB caused by Basidiobolus ranarum in a 25-year-old Italian immunocompetent man resident in Ireland who presented a 2-month history of epigastric pain. Suspecting colon cancer he underwent a right hemicolectomy subsequently leading to a diagnosis of GIB by means of molecular biology. After surgery a 9-month therapy with itraconazole was employed with a good outcome. A review of medical literature regarding GIB cases published in the period 1964-2017 is presented.

Results: One-hundred and two cases of GIB were included in this analysis. The disease was observed predominantly in male gender (74.5%) and children (41.2%). Abdominal pain was the single most common complaint (86.3%) followed by fever (40.2%) and evidence of an abdominal mass (30.4%). Peripheral blood eosinophilia was detected in 85.7% of cases. Most of the patients were diagnosed in Saudi Arabia (37.2%) followed by USA (21.6%) and Iran (20.6%). Surgery plus antifungal therapy was employed in the majority of patients (77.5%). An unfavourable outcome was documented globally in 18.6% of patients.

Conclusions: GIB seems to be an emerging intestinal mycosis among immunocompetent patients living in the Middle East and Arizona.

Keywords: Basidiobolomycosis; Emerging mycosis; Gastrointestinal infection; Italy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Supplementary concepts