OSTEOMYELITIS CAUSED BY NEOSARTORYA-PSEUDOFISCHERI

The first case of osteomyelitis caused by Neosartorya pseudofischeri i s reported. The patient, a 77-year-old male with a history of silicosi s and tuberculosis, on X-ray examination revealed lytic lesions of L(2 ) and L(3) vertebrae suspicious for metastatic lesions. Histologic exa mination of biopsy specimens from vertebral bodies showed short, disto rted, extra- and intracellular, hyaline hyphal fragments. The culture from the biopsy tissue produced numerous, evanescent asci containing e ight ellipsoidal ascospores with two distinctive equatorial bands ca. 1 mu m, wide. When examined by a scanning electron microscope, ascospo res exhibited a convex surface ornamented with raised flaps of tissue, in shape resembling triangular projections or long ridge lines. The c onidial state (anamorph) was identified as Aspergillus thermomutatus o n the basis of conidial columns which were smaller and less tightly pa cked as well as of a lighter shade of green than those observed in Asp ergillus fumigatus. On the basis of the morphologic features of the as cospores, the teleomorph was identified as N. pseudofischeri.