[A case of entomophthoromycosis caused by Conidiobolus coronatus]. / Un caso de entomophthoromicosis por Conidiobolus coronatus.

The authors report a case of entomophthoromicosis caused by Conidiobolus coronatus, a saprophytic fungus that belongs to the class Zygomycetes (Phycomycetes in the past). Our patient was from a rural area. The paranasal sinuses had been drained surgically and a polyp was removed from his nasal cavity. He had a deformity in the face and nasal obstruction. His general condition and immunological status were normal except for epistaxis since childhood. The diagnosis was made clinically by the appearance of the lesion and confirmed by the mycological and histopathological findings. The therapeutic response was slow but with total resolution of the lesion.

[Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis in Panama. Etiologic agent, epidemiologic and clinical aspects]. / Leishmaniasis mucocutánea en Panamá. Agente etiológico, aspectos epidemiológicos y clínicos.

From November 1985 to December 1988, 33 patients were enrolled at Santo Tomas Hospital and Gorgas Memorial Laboratory to study the etiology, epidemiology and clinical characteristics of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. Seventeen were males and 16 females, 14 to 80 years old from the endemic rural areas of the provinces of Panama, Colón, Coclé, Darién, Veraguas, Bocas del Toro and San Blas. In 8 patients the respiratory mucosa involvement occurred at the time of the primary infection and 25 had the involvement after an incubation period of 2 to 30 years. Twenty one of these 25 patients had a clear history of cutaneous leishmaniasis and the characteristic depressed and hyperpigmented scar of a previous leishmanial infection. The Montenegro skin test was positive in all the patients, serology in 84%, direct smear in 47%, histopathology in 37% and culture in 26%. The strains were characterized as L. braziliensis panamensis by electrophoresis of isoenzymes. Possible risk factors in development of MCL were found to be female sex and the lack of past treatment of CL. The mucosal involvement was mild in the majority of the patients, the infection was localized in the nasal mucosal (nasal septum and inferior turbinate) in 91% of the patients, and the most common symptoms were epistaxis, nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea.