[Sepsis caused by Candida parapsilosis. Joint and lung involvement in 2 patients with acute leukemia]

Sepsis due to Candida parapsilosis with involvement of the joints and the lungs, respectively, is reported in two patients with acute leukemia. The first patient had ankle arthritis 72 days after an allogenic bone marrow transplant for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The second patient had pneumonia with cavitation during pancytopenia after chemotherapy for acute monocytic leukemia. In both cases, C. parapsilosis sepsis responded to therapy with amphotericin B, associated with miconazole in the first patient and with 5-fluorocytosine in the second one. The rarity of septic foci during C. parapsilosis fungemia and the good outcome of both patients are emphasized. This good result was probably due to early antifungal therapy and the relatively rapid recovery of granulocytopenia.