DIAGNOSIS OF FUNGEMIA IN BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION PATIENTS BY EXAMINATION OF PERIPHERAL-BLOOD SMEARS

Two patients who received BMT for treatment of severe aplastic anemia and AML-M2, developed fungemia during leukopenia. The organisms respon sible for the infections were Candida parapsilosis and Rhodotorula glu tinis, respectively. Early diagnosis of fungemia in these two patients was made by visualization of fungal blastospores in peripheral blood (PB) smears. These two eases illustrate that cytologic examination of PB smears is a useful method for early detection of fungus infection i n BMT patients with leukopenia and unexplained fever in spite of appro priate antibiotic treatment.