Fusarium Infection Usually Involves the Skin and Is Frequently Fatal

Fusarium species are ubiquitous fungi that cause infection in immunosuppressed patients, particularly those with neutropenia. The mold enters through the lungs, but there have been reports of possible onychomycotic infections with this mold as well.

These authors retrospectively analyzed Fusarium cases treated at Massachusetts General Hospital over a 10-year period. They created three categories of infection: skin, pulmonary, and disseminated infections. Twenty definite and 6 probable cases were seen at the hospital; all patients were immunocompromised, including 6 with lung transplantation, 5 with hematologic malignancies, and 7 burn patients. Eleven infections were of the skin, 8 of the lung, and 7 were disseminated. The types of skin lesi…