PENICILLIOSIS MARNEFFEI INFECTION IN AIDS

Penicillium marneffei infection has emerged as a new potential indicat or disease for AIDS in Southeast Asia. We report two additional cases of P. marneffei infection in patients infected with HIV who had travel ed to endemic areas and review the mucocutaneous features of previousl y reported cases. Our two patients had many of the typical features as sociated with invasive infection: fever, weight loss, anemia, lymphade nopathy, hepatomegaly, pulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, as wel l as skin manifestations such as papular molluscum contagiosum-like le sions and oral lesions. Knowledge of cutaneous signs is important for prompt diagnosis of P. marneffei infection and institution of life-sav ing therapy with antifungal agents.