Penicillium brevicompactum as the cause of a necrotic lung ball in an allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipient

Abstract

The non-Candida, non-Aspergillus fungal infections are being reported with increasing frequency in BMT patients. One of these agents is Penicillium which has rarely been implicated as a pathogen in these patients. Only a few cases of isolated fungemias have been reported to date. We present the first documented case of invasive lung infection due to Penicillium brevicompactum in an allogeneic BMT recipient. As this case shows, the diagnosis of non-Candida, non-Aspergillus fungal infections may be incorrect if only histologic findings are available, mainly because misdiagnosis with other more common fungus can occur. A positive culture is required in order to make an accurate diagnosis.