Septic arthritis as the first sign of Candida tropicalis fungaemia in an acute lymphoid leukemia patient

Abstract

Fungal infections caused by Candida species have increased in incidence during the past two decades in England, North America and Europe. Candidal arthritis is rare in patients who are not intravenous drug users or are who not using a prostheses. We report the case of a 24-year-old man with acute lymphoid leukemia, who developed Candida tropicalis arthritis during an aplastic period after chemotherapy. This is the eighth case described in the literature of C. tropicalis causing arthritis without intra-articular inoculation. We call attention to an unusual first sign of fungal infection: septic arthritis without intra-articular inoculation. However, this case differs from the other seven, since despite therapy a fast and lethal evolution was observed. We reviewed reported cases, incidence, risk factors, mortality and treatment of neutropenic patients with fungal infections.