Fusarium proliferatum as an agent of disseminated infection in an immunosuppressed patient.

ABSTRACT

Fusarium proliferatum was reported as the agent of a fatal disseminated infection in a child with lymphoblastic leukemia. The fungus has not been reported previously to cause disease in humans, but it is closely related to the known opportunistic pathogen F. verticillioides. It was distinguished by the production of clavate microconidia in chains from proliferating phialides. Resistance to amphotericin B and flucytosine in vitro was shown.