Post-transplant Schizophyllum commune abscess in a pediatric patient with chronic granulomatous disease

• Published in: Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy 2023-02, Vol.29 (2), p.219-222
• Main Authors: Yada, Yutaro, Shiraishi, Akira, Ishimura, Masataka, Eguchi, Katsuhide, Motomura, Yoshitomo, Kibe, Yasushi, Kamei, Katsuhiko, Ohga, Shouichi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abscess; Brain abscess; Child; Chronic granulomatous disease; Cord blood transplantation; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic - complications; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic - drug therapy; Humans; Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis - diagnosis; Invasive Schizophyllum commune infection; Lung abscess; Male; Schizophyllum - genetics; Voriconazole - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 1341-321X; 1437-7780
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2022.10.015

Schizophyllum commune is a widely distributed basidiomycete fungus that occasionally causes sinusitis or allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis. The invasive infection mostly occurs in immunocompromised adults. The number of reports on S. commune infection have increased in this decade due to the expansion of diagnostic techniques and awareness in clinical practice. However, S.commune infection in patients with primary immunodeficiencies has not been reported yet. Here, we described S. commune-abscesses developed in the brain and lung of a boy with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) after allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). A 12-year-old CGD patient developed febrile neutropenia from day 4 after HCT, followed by chest pain on day 23. He had no obvious infection before HCT. Diagnostic imaging revealed disseminated lung and brain abscesses. He received administration of voriconazole, and his symptoms improved after engraftment. Chronic administration of voriconazole had also a favorable therapeutic response to brain lesion. A part of the fungus ball exhaled by the patient was cultured to develop a filamentous fungus. S. commune was identified by the analysis of the 28S rRNA gene. The catalase test was positive for S. commune, indicating that S. commune had virulence in this patient with CGD. The assessment of specific-IgG to S. commune suggested peri-transplant infection, although colonization was not excluded. This rare pediatric case of S. commune infection highlights that CGD patients are vulnerable to invasive infection, especially when undergoing HCT.