A Rare Systemic Fungal Infection (Cladophialophora) Masquerading Invasive Candidiasis in a Patient with B-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in childhood and its incidence peaks during the first 2–5 years of life.The long-term survival of patients with ALL has increased to ∼90% with risk-directed therapy and improved supportive care. However, incidence of mould infections caused by Aspergillus species, and other emerging mould opportunistics, such as Zygomycetes and Fusarium species and non-albicans Candida species have progressively been noted to increase particularly in patients with ALL. Here, we present a case of B-ALL with rare fungal infection (Cladophialophora) masquerading invasive Candidiasis which led to diagnostic delay and chemotherapy interruptions, but the patient achieved good overall outcome.