Corneal ulcer – gram stain. Corneal scrapings were taken from a 67 yr old farmer presenting with a corneal ulcer of the right eye. A piece of vegetable matter was embedded in the cornea and scrapings were done. Gram stain (500x magnification) showed

William Ernest Dismukes 1939-2017

Haemoptysis pt AS

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Skin lesions in patient with acute myeloid leukemia

Images and abstract taken from Mert D et.al., Hematol Rep. 2017 Jun 1;9(2):6997. doi: 10.4081/hr.2017.6997. Invasive Aspergillosis with Disseminated Skin Involvement in a Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Rare Case.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is most commonly seen in immunocompromised patients. Besides, skin lesions may also develop due to invasive aspergillosis in those patients. A 49-year-old male patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

The patient developed bullous and zosteriform lesions on the skin after the 21st day of hospitalization. The skin biopsy showed hyphae. Disseminated skin aspergillosis was diagnosed to the patient.

Voricanazole treatment was initiated. The patient was discharged once the lesions started to disappear.

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Aspergillus flavus

AR-12

For further details go to the new antifungal drugs section

Tipifarnib

Farnesyltransferase inhibitor – see new Antifungal drugs section for more details

Manumycin A

Farnesyltransferase inhibitor – see New Antifungal drugs section for more details

Case 66: Aspergillus invasive skin graft infection in a child suffering from severe burns.

Piles of Rotting Woodchip

A pile of woodchip stored for use in a garden usually as a weed suppressing mulch. The heat building up in the pile is illustrated by the plumes of steam eminating from the top of the pile.

Aspergillus fumigatus is particularly well adapted to grow in the heat (up to 60C) found in such piles of rotting organic material and this characteristic, an adaption for its life in its natural environment also enables it to survive and grow in warm mammalian bodies at 37C. Most fungi cannot grow or survive at those temperatures

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Aspergillus bronchitis and mucoid impaction: PtMK

MK is 59 years old and presented with right sided pleuritic chest pain and coughing over 1 week. A chest Xray and then CT scan revealed complete collapse of her right lower lobe and middle lobes. Mucous retention is seen just proximal to the abrupt cutoff. There was mild bronchiectasis. 

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