Atypical cutaneous Fusarium infection in an immunocompetent patient

Fusarium are filamentous saprophytic brown fungi found in soil, on plants and outdoors. Invasive, necrotic fusarial skin infections are rare and are found in immunodepressed subjects. We report a case in a woman with no discernible immune deficiency. A 24-year-old woman in good general health, pregnant at 34 weeks amenorrhoea, consulted for ulcerating, budding lesions with a necrotic centre over her entire body, but mainly localised on the cheeks and four limbs. The diagnosis of fusariosis due to Fusarium oxysporum was made on the basis of direct examination and repeated skin biopsy culture. All investigations were normal, and in particular, the patient had no detectable immune deficiency. Treatment was extremely difficult. The patient received amphotericin B, then voriconazole and terbinafine, ketoconazole and finally liposomal amphotericin. In immunocompetent subjects, fusarial species generally colonise the corneal layers of the skin. Our case was special in terms of the clinical aspect of the pseudotumoural lesions with a necrotic centre in an immunocompetent woman and in terms of the difficulty in treating her.