Successful treatment of Talaromyces amestolkiae pulmonary infection with voriconazole in an acute lymphoblastic leukemia patient.

ABSTRACT

Infections due to Talaromyces spp. are uncommon, but they have been reported previously as causative agents of disease in immunocompromised patients. The prognosis of hemato-oncological patients with an invasive fungal infection is generally poor and the identification of the causative agent is usually not achieved or in some cases the isolated agent is taken as a contaminant and not treated, which contributes to their bad outcome. We report a case of Talaromyces amestolkiae pulmonary infection in an acute lymphoblastic leukemia patient, which was successfully treated with voriconazole, and discuss the importance of molecular identification and treatment of non-traditionally pathogenic fungi in this specific subset of patients.