| CASE REPORT |
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| Year : 2007 | Volume
: 55
| Issue : 3 | Page : 304--307 |
Sepsis and meningoencephalitis due to Rhodotorula glutinis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus, diagnosed at autopsy
Umabala Pamidimukkala1, Sundaram Challa2, Vemu Lakshmi1, Ashwani Tandon2, Srinivas Kulkarni3, Satyanarayana Y Raju3
1 Department of Microbiology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
2 Department of Pathology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
3 Department of Medicine, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Umabala Pamidimukkala
Department of Microbiology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.35695
Rhodotorula species have been reported as a causative agent of opportunistic mycoses in immunocompromised hosts. We report a case of sepsis and meningoencephalitis caused by Rhodotorula glutinis in a 20-year-old female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which was diagnosed at autopsy. The patient presented with longstanding fever. She was diagnosed with SLE after admission to the hospital and died on day 5 of the hospital stay. Autopsy was performed to confirm the presence of infection. Sepsis and meningoencephalitis due to Rhodotorula glutinis was confirmed by postmortem blood cultures and histopathological examination of biopsies taken from the brain at autopsy. Infection by Rhodotorula spp. is rare but can be fatal in immunocompromised hosts. Infections by such uncommon yeasts may often be difficult to diagnose, especially in the setting of febrile neutropenia. This report also emphasizes the value of autopsy as a powerful educational tool.
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