Rhodotorula septicemia: report of a case

With the increased use of central venous catheters in cancer patients, there has been an increase in the recovery of environmental and skin organisms from blood cultures. A red yeast, Rhodotorula, an infrequent cause of infection in humans, was isolated from a patient with acute myeloblastic leukemia undergoing bone marrow transplant while he received parenteral nutritional fluids by an indwelling catheter. The patient was clinically ill, as manifested by fever and chills. The patient was treated with amphotericin B and the catheter was removed. He survived the fungemic episode with no recurrence of fungal infection.