INVASIVE FUSARIUM INFECTIONS IN BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

From Nov., 1982 to Sept., 1983, 3 cases of invasive infection due to Fusarium sp. were documented in bone marrow transplant recipients. Fusarium was cultured from discrete skin nodules (1 patient), maxillary sinus (1 patient), or from the blood and surgically excised nasal septum (1 patient). All 3 isolates were resistant to 5-fluorocytosine, whereas only 1 isolate was resistant to amphotericin B. Although all 3 patients died, two of the patients had clearing of their Fusarium infection. From this experience and from a review of the literature, it is concluded that despite the dismal prognosis for immunocompromised patients with Fusarium, beneficial therapies would include systemic amphotericin B, local surgical resection and possibly leukocyte transfusions.