• Bmc Infect Dis · Mar 2020

    Case Reports

    Triple infection with Cryptococcus, varicella-zoster virus, and Mycobacterium abscessus in a patient with anti-interferon-gamma autoantibodies: a case report.

    • Pongprueth Rujirachun, Jirath Sangwongwanich, and Methee Chayakulkeeree.
    • Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
    • Bmc Infect Dis. 2020 Mar 19; 20 (1): 232.

    BackgroundThe most common infection in patients positive for anti-interferon-gamma autoantibodies (anti-IFN-γ AAbs) is disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial (dNTM) infection. Here, we report a rare case of triple infection caused by Cryptococcus, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), and nontuberculous mycobacterium in a patient with anti-IFN-γ AAbs.Case PresentationA 53-year-old Thai man presented with a progressively enlarging right cervical mass with low-grade fever and significant weight loss for 4 months. He also developed a lesion at his left index finger. A biopsy of that lesion showed granulomatous inflammation with yeast-like organisms morphologically consistent with cryptococcosis. Serum cryptococcal antigen was positive. Histopathology of a right cervical lymph node revealed chronic granulomatous lymphadenitis, and the lymph node culture grew Mycobacterium abscessus. One month later, he complained of vision loss in his left eye and subsequently developed a group of painful vesicles at the right popliteal area of S1 dermatome. Lumbar puncture was performed and his cerebrospinal fluid was positive for VZV DNA. His blood test for anti-HIV antibody was negative. Anti-IFN-γ AAbs was positive, but test for anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor autoantibodies (anti-GM-CSF AAbs) was negative. He was treated with amphotericin B plus fluconazole for cryptococcosis; a combination of amikacin, imipenem, azithromycin, and levofloxacin for dNTM infection; and, intravenous acyclovir for disseminated VZV infection. After treatment, our patient's fever and cervical lymphadenopathy were subsided, and his vision and visual acuity were both improved.ConclusionsThis is the first case of triple infection with cryptococcosis, VZV, and dNTM in a patient who tested positive for anti-IFN-γ AAbs and negative for anti-GM-CSF AAbs. This case will increase awareness and heighten suspicion of these infections in patients with the described presentations and clinical characteristics, and this will accelerate diagnosis and treatment.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…