Candida albicans vertebral osteomyelitis in chronic renal failure

Invasive candidal infections are encountered with increasing frequency in compromised hosts but bone infection is uncommon. A woman with systemic lupus erythematosus and end-stage renal failure managed by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis developed a painful thoracic kyphosis and a lytic lesion in the vertebral bodies of T10 and T11. Blood cultures were sterile but bone biopsy material contained Candida albicans which also grew on culture. Circulating immune complexes were measured in high levels and contained candida antigens and specific anti-candida antibody as determined by isoelectric focusing, immunoblotting and immunoprinting techniques. Pain persisted after anti-fungal therapy had sterilized the lesion necessitating surgical excision of affected vertebrae, kyphosis correction and iliac crest bone grafting. The titres of circulating immune complexes and anti-candidal precipitins closely paralleled the clinical course.