Primary cutaneous aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus tamarii in a premature infant with extremely low birthweight: A case report with short review

Abstract

Primary cutaneous aspergillosis is a rare, life-threatening fungal infection in premature infants. We report a case of primary cutaneous aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus tamarii in an extremely low birthweight infant. The infant was delivered by cesarean section with complications from an intrauterine infection, brain intraventricular hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade. On the 12th day of life, he developed erythematous maceration with erosion on his back. Septate hyphae were detected on two occasions from specimens of the skin lesion. The manifestations of the colony and slide culture showed the characteristics of A. tamarii. The nucleotide sequences of internal transcribed spacer regions of the ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequences of β-tubulin and calmodulin gene were compatible with those of A. tamarii. Of the known Aspergillus species, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus have been reported in previous studies as the major causative agents in primary cutaneous aspergillosis, whereas human infection by A. tamarii is rare. We consider that A. tamarii is important as an unusual opportunistic human pathogen among premature infants.