A case of rare fungal keratitis caused by Pseudoshiraia conidialis

Pseudoshiraia conidialis is a filamentous fungus that belongs to the Shiraiaceae family. We report a rare case of fungal keratitis caused by P conidialis.

A 61-year-old female accidentally scratched her right eye with a bamboo branch, presenting with conjunctival congestion in the right eye, corneal ulcer with edema endothelial folds, anterior chamber exudation hypopyon, and lens opacity.

The patient's eyes were evaluated using slit-lamp examination, fundus examination, and pus culture, and fungal keratitis was considered as the diagnosis. After culturing, the keratitis pathogen was confirmed to be P conidialis through rRNA gene internal transcribed spacer amplification and sequencing.

The patient underwent debridement of the cornea and was treated with a combination of tropicamide eye drops and oral itraconazole hydrochloride capsules.

The patient showed significant improvement early in the treatment, but was not cured. Later, the patient was transferred to another hospital and was lost to follow-up.

We report the first case of fungal keratitis caused by P conidialis. Microbial culture remains the gold standard for diagnosing fungal keratitis. This case provides a reference for the clinical treatment of fungal keratitis caused by P conidialis.