Keep An Eye Out For Fungus Conclusion

As the title implies, the causative organism in the last post was Aspergillus terreus. Once the causative agent was identified, the patient was prescribed natamycin and Voriconazole eyedrops in addition to his other prescriptions for 10 days. Normally amphotericin B (AMB) is prescribed to fungal infections, but Aspergillus terreus has intrinsic resistance to this antibiotic. Triazoles show promising treatment for Aspergillus terreus infections. When the treatment regimen was completed, the patient underwent a photo-therapeutic keratectomy (PTK) to remove dense corneal scarring caused by this infection.

Infections caused by this organism can be classified as invasive, saprophytic or allergic, and can be involved in lung disease, allergic bronchopulmonary disease, allergic sinusitis, cutaneous infections, invasive bronchopulmonary disease, intradural spinal biopsy, nosocomial aspergillus peritonitis, and invasive aspergillosis. It is a common cause of fungal infections in hematologic (leukemia) malignant patients and solid-organ or hematopoietic stem-cell transplants patients.

One problem with identifying fungal infections is that identification tests for them are not routinely performed in the hospital laboratory setting. The main reasons for this are the small patient volumes and lack of technical competency in the hospital lab to perform the tests. Often, these samples are sent and processed at reference labs, which is how this patient’s sample was analyzed.

Below is the reference to the article “Aspergillus terreus Recovered from a Corneal Scraping”

Campbell Suzanna, Aspergillus terreus Recovered from a Corneal Scraping. ASCLS. Spring 2014 . 27: 67-71.