Infectious panniculitis: an inpatient cohort

Abstract

Infectious panniculitis: an inpatient cohort Dear Editor,The clinical presentation of infectious panniculitis commonly mimics erythema nodosum (EN) or other non-infectious panniculitis, making diagnosis by clinical impression alone challenging. This morphology is infrequently reported in association with atypical organisms, such as nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or opportunistic fungi. 1,2 We reviewed our inpatient database for patients who presented with skin and soft tissue infections classified as panniculitis. We highlight the clinical and pathologic features of a fungal and NTM infectious panniculitis patient cohort and provide diagnostic guidance for these diseases.After review of records between 2017 and 2020 of all hospitalized patients who received dermatology consultation at our institution and were diagnosed with a skin or soft tissue infection, we identified five cases of infectious panniculitis, including two NTM panniculitis and three fungal panniculitis (two Histoplasma capsulatum, one Mucor circinelloides). The clinical,