Rhodotorula mucilaginosa associacted meningitis: A subacute entity with high mortality. Case report and review

Sotirios Tsiodras; Sotirios Papageorgiou; Joseph Meletiadis; Polydoros Tofas; Vasiliki Pappa; John Panayiotides; Petros Karakitsos; Apostolos Armaganidis; George Petrikkos

doi:10.1016/j.mmcr.2014.08.006

Rhodotorula mucilaginosa associacted meningitis: A subacute entity with high mortality. Case report and review

Med Mycol Case Rep. 2014 Sep 10:6:46-50. doi: 10.1016/j.mmcr.2014.08.006. eCollection 2014 Oct.

Authors

Sotirios Tsiodras¹, Sotirios Papageorgiou², Joseph Meletiadis³, Polydoros Tofas¹, Vasiliki Pappa², John Panayiotides⁴, Petros Karakitsos⁵, Apostolos Armaganidis⁶, George Petrikkos¹

Affiliations

¹ 4th Department of Internal Medicine, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.
² Haematology Unit, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine-Propaedeutic, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.
³ Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.
⁴ 2nd Department of Pathology, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.
⁵ Department of Cytopathology, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.
⁶ 1st Department of Critical Care, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Rimini 1, 12462 Athens, Greece.

Abstract

A fatal case of meningitis due to Rhodotorula mucilaginosa in a 28 year-old HIV-negative male with a history of Hodgkin lymphoma who underwent salvage chemotherapy is presented. Reviewing the literature we identified 13 cases with central nervous system infection due Rhodotorula spp. The disease usually occurs in HIV negative immunosupressed middle-aged males. It takes the form of subacute or chronic meningitis accompanied by fever with an overall mortality of 46.2% despite antifungal therapy.

Keywords: Lymphoma; Meningitis; Rhodotorula mucilaginosa.