Dysgonic strain of Microsporum canis pseudomycetoma in a Domestic Long-hair cat.

A 4-year-old Domestic Long-hair cat was presented with two large non-painful, ulcerated and suppurative lesions over the flanks. Histopathology and cytology were consistent with fungal pyogranulomatous inflammation. Culture of tissue yielded a dysgonic strain of Microsporum canis. The cat was treated successfully by staged en bloc resections of the lesions, followed by oral ketoconazole, then oral terbinafine. This is the first reported case of dermatophytic pseudomycetoma in a Domestic Long-hair cat in Australia.

A ten year survey of superficial mycoses in the Tauranga district, Bay of Plenty.

Between 1 January 1976 and 31 December 1985, 4086 patients living in Tauranga and its environs were examined mycologically. All were suspected of superficial cutaneous mycoses and the majority were referred by general practitioners. A total of 1085 pathogenic fungi were identified, an isolation rate of 27%. The main pathogens identified in order of frequency were--Candida species; Microsporum canis; Trichophyton rubrum; Malassezia furfur; Epidermophyton floccosum; T mentagrophytes var interdigitale. The positivity rate was slightly higher for patients attending the laboratory compared with specimens collected at the surgeries of medical practitioners. Some seasonal variation was noted.

Cryptococcosis in a North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) in New Zealand.

A case of disseminated cryptococcosis in a North Island kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) caused by Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii (serotype B) is reported. This is the first case of cryptococcosis to be reported in a kiwi and is also the first isolation of C. neoformans var. gattii from a veterinary source in New Zealand. The kiwi is an example of a ratite bird and as such has a lower body temperature approximating that of a mammal. As a consequence, the kiwi and other ratitis (e.g. emus) would be expected to show an increased susceptibility to cryptococcosis compared with other birds. There has been only one other isolate of this variety of C. neoformans in New Zealand and this was isolated from the sputum of a human male with leukaemia who was from the Gisborne area of the North Island, a region adjacent to Hawkes Bay where the case of kiwi cryptococcosis occurred. Some months prior to the development of the infection in the bird, a mulch of Eucalyptus leaves/twigs had been spread throughout the kiwi enclosure and this is considered to have been the probable source of the yeast. Neither Eucalyptus camaldulensis nor Eucalyptus tereticornis were among the species from which the mulch material originated and it is suggested another species may be the environmental host(s) of C. neoformans var. gattii in New Zealand.

New records of nail and skin infection due to Onychocola canadensis and description of its teleomorph Arachnomyces nodosetosus sp. nov.

Non-dermatophytic fungi are increasingly being recognized as agents of onychomycosis. In 1990, three cases of chronic infection of the great toenail in adult female residents of Canada were attributed to Onychocola canadensis, a previously unknown hyphomycete. Three additional cases were suspicious but unconfirmed. This report documents seven new records, including six of toenail infection in elderly individuals and one case of glabrous skin infection. Three isolations from New Zealand represent the first report of O. canadensis outside Canada. Treatment with griseofulvin in one New Zealand hallux infection case was found to improve the appearance of the nail, but specimens were culture positive after 6 months. The development in culture of broad, brown, nodose, thick-walled hyphae suggested an affinity to the ascomycete genus Arachnomyces. Although mating experiments were attempted on several different media, ascocarps were produced in six mated pairs on sterilized rice grains or rice extract agar after 7-12 months incubation. Arachnomyces nodosetosus Sigler & Abbott sp. nov. is described and compared with Arachnomyces minimus Malloch & Cain, also rarely isolated from cutaneous specimens. The genus Arachnomyces is placed in the Gymnoascaceae (Onygenales).

Adiaspiromycosis in suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula).

Pulmonary adiaspiromycosis was diagnosed in 15 of 17 common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) examined for bovine tuberculosis. Emmonsia crescens was isolated from two of the affected animals. This is the first reported isolation of this dimorphic fungus in New Zealand. The infections varied from light to heavy with sparsely distributed, focal, 1-2 mm diameter, grey-white spherical granulomas in the lightly infected cases to innumerable foci throughout the lungs in the heavily infected cases. Histologically, the lesions were characterised by a central fungal adiaspore consistent in morphology with E. crescens located in alveolar spaces or bronchioles. These were surrounded by a cuff of granulomatous inflammation which varied in density and extent in proportion to the degree of degeneration exhibited by the organism. The lesions in most cases of adiaspiromycosis in the possum are sufficiently distinctive to allow their differentiation from tuberculosis by gross examination, but where any doubt exists over the possibility of dual infection by Emmonsia and Mycobacterium species differentiation should be made on the basis of a histological examination of the tissue and culture for mycobacterial organisms.

Cryptococcal peritonitis in a CAPD patient.

A 50-year-old diabetic woman with end-stage renal disease, who had been on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis for 8 months, developed peritonitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans. The patient was completely asymptomatic and infection was confirmed by detection of budding yeast cells in Gram-stained smears of turbid peritoneal fluid. The infection was cleared after intravenous fluconazole with delayed removal of the catheter. Fluconazole may be a suitable alternative drug in treating cryptococcal peritonitis.

Four non-endemic New Zealand cases of chromoblastomycosis.

The majority of cases of chromoblastomycosis are reported from tropical to subtropical countries; only one previous case being reported from New Zealand. Four non-endemic cases in Pacific Island patients are described. All of the New Zealand cases were caused by Fonsecaea pedrosoi. In the present report, one patient was successfully treated by excision of the lesion followed by skin grafting. Another was treated with 200 mg ketoconazole daily for 10 weeks with no obvious improvement. No follow-up on the treatment of this case nor of the remaining two patients is available. This disease must be included in the differential diagnosis in patients who present with chronic lesions affecting the skin and subcutaneous tissues.