Fusarium solani fungemia in a bone marrow transplant recipient

Disseminated Fusarium solani infection, with its distinctive skin lesions, is an emerging cause of mortality in bone marrow transplant recipients worldwide. However, it has never been reported before in Taiwan. We report a 21-year-old man with disseminated fusariosis who developed fever, myalgia and generalized erythematous papules on day 8 after undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. Histopathology of the skin lesion revealed mycotic emboli. Cultures of both blood and tissue from skin biopsy grew Fusarium solani. Despite amphotericin B therapy, fever persisted and graft failure developed. A second transplantation, using mobilized peripheral blood stem cells from the same donor, was tried but the patient died of progressive multiple organ failure before any evidence of engraftment.