A saprophytic fungus (Sepedonium) associated with fatal pneumonia in a patient undergoing stem cell transplantation

Abstract

Sepedonium sp. is a saprophytic fungus that inhabits soil and plant material. Few cases of infection with this fungus have been reported. We describe a case of a child who received haploidentical stem cell transplantation. The patient developed Sepedonium sp. infection after graft failure accompanied by cytomegalovirus infection. This was associated with two genotypes corresponding to a gB1 and gB3 mixture, which suggested involvement of two strains. Throughout the clinical course, immunosuppression and subsequent development of the fungal infection was observed. Our findings add to the available evidence regarding the potential for acquisition of fungal infection from the environment in patients at high risk because of immunosuppression. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Sepedonium sp. infection following graft failure accompanied by previous cytomegalovirus infection in a patient with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.