Saksenaea erythrospora infection following a serious sailing accident

Abstract

Saksenaea erythrospora is a species of the order Mucorales recently described and reported as a cause of human mucormycosis. We report a case of S. erythrospora in a man involved in a serious sailing accident causing deep skin and soft tissue contamination with soil and water. Direct microscopic examination of the clinical sample with Giemsa stains showed hyaline and nonseptate hyphae belonging to the order Mucorales. Fungal identification was performed by culture of biopsy material on SDA, and identification of species by floating an agar block containing the fungus in a nutritionally deficient medium consisting of sterile distilled water supplemented with 0.05 % yeast extract; and by sequencing the ITS region of the rDNA. This is the first report to our knowledge of infection with S. erythrospora in Argentina, confirming the presence of this fungus in this country.

Cutaneous mucormycosis caused by Saksenaea vasiformis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…Similar to other members of the order Mucorales, S. vasiformis infection is evident by angioinvasion leading to thrombosis and tissue necrosis . This facilitates the progression of infection into deep tissue …”

“…Saksenaea vasiformis is a fungus of the family Saksenaeaceae included in order Mucorales of class Zygomycetes . Even though S. vasiformis has been considered the only member of genus Saksenaea , four new species of the genus, S. vasiformis, S. erythrospora, S. oblongispora , and S. loutrophoriformis have been identified recently, based on physiological, morphological, and molecular characteristics …”

“…1 Even though S. vasiformis has been considered the only member of genus Saksenaea, four new species of the genus, S. vasiformis, S. erythrospora, S. oblongispora, and S. loutrophoriformis have been identified recently, based on physiological, morphological, and molecular characteristics. 6,9,17,18 Similar to other members of the order Mucorales, S. vasiformis produces hyaline, broad fungal filaments. 15 However, the most characteristic feature of the organism is it's sporulation.…”

“…5 S. vasiformis is isolated relatively infrequently as an agent for cutaneous mucormycosis and approximately 40 cases of human Saksenaea mucormycete infections have been reported up to now. [6][7][8] However, the actual number of cases must have been underestimated due to identification problems associated with this fungal species. [6][7][8] Here, we present a patient with cutaneous mucormycosis caused by S. vasiformis which was successfully treated with intravenous antifungal drugs and repeated debridement in the setting of SLE.…”

Saksenaea infection masquerading as a brain tumor in an immunocompetent child

“…Although there have only been a few cases of human S. erythrospora infections reported to date, it is likely they have long been the cause of mucormycosis before the discovery of additional Saksenaea species . As with S. vasiformis , the majority have also presented as cutaneous or soft tissue infections associated with trauma or procedures, likely from contamination with soil or water . S. erythrospora infections have been described following combat trauma, a river sailing accident in Argentina, breast augmentation surgery in Venezuela and in a series of five cases associated with intramuscular injections and medicated bandage application in India …”