PENICILLIOSIS MARNEFFEI INFECTION IN AIDS

Penicillium marneffei infection has emerged as a new potential indicator disease for AIDS in Southeast Asia. We report two additional cases of P. marneffei infection in patients infected with HIV who had traveled to endemic areas and review the mucocutaneous features of previously reported cases. Our two patients had many of the typical features associated with invasive infection: fever, weight loss, anemia, lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, pulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as skin manifestations such as papular molluscum contagiosum-like lesions and oral lesions. Knowledge of cutaneous signs is important for prompt diagnosis of P. marneffei infection and institution of life-saving therapy with antifungal agents.