A case of sporotrichosis infection mimicking pyoderma gangrenosum and the role of tissue culture in diagnosis: A case report

Felicia Tai; Henry Jakubovic; Shaikhah Alabdulrazzaq; Afsaneh Alavi

doi:10.1177/2050313X20919600

A case of sporotrichosis infection mimicking pyoderma gangrenosum and the role of tissue culture in diagnosis: A case report

SAGE Open Med Case Rep. 2020 May 18:8:2050313X20919600. doi: 10.1177/2050313X20919600. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Felicia Tai¹, Henry Jakubovic^{2

3}, Shaikhah Alabdulrazzaq³, Afsaneh Alavi^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Division of Dermatology, Women's College Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Sporotrichosis infections may cause cutaneous lesions mimicking other infectious or non-infectious causes such as pyoderma gangrenosum. We present a case of cutaneous sporotrichosis misdiagnosed as pyoderma gangrenosum and treated with immunosuppressants for 17 months leading to exacerbation and atypical morphology mimicking Histoplasma organisms on biopsy. Exclusion of infection prior to diagnosing pyoderma gangrenosum is important to prevent iatrogenic immunosuppression, demonstrating the challenges with application of the updated pyoderma gangrenosum diagnostic criteria.

Keywords: Pyoderma gangrenosum; cutaneous sporotrichosis; deep fungal infection; histoplasmosis mimic; pyoderma gangrenosum diagnostic criteria; sporotrichosis infection; sporotrichosis schenckii; ulcer.

Publication types

Case Reports