Abstract

Protothecosis is an infection caused by achloric algae of the genus Prototheca. It is found ubiquitously in nature, particularly in the slime flux of trees and sewage. Only two species including Prototheca wickerhamii and Prototheca zopfii have been known to be pathogenic in humans. A 64-year-old man presented intermittent pruritic erythematous confluent grouped papules and nodules on the left upper arm. Histopathologic study revealed some sporangia of morula-like appearance and chronic granulomatous inflammation. The PAS stain demonstrated the characteristic spores showing multiple internal septations and some unicellular endospore. P. wickerhamii was isolated from culture and identified by the biochemical studies. Oral itraconazole 200 mg/day administration resulted in marked regression of the skin lesion after 8 weeks.

Keywords

Cutaneous protothecosis Prototheca wickerhamii

KJMM 2003 March;8(1):30-34(5). Epub 2016 February 20
Copyright © 2003 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

Korean/English

Author

Jin Hee Jun; Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea
Jee Bum Lee; Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea
Seong Jin Kim; Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea
Seung Chul Lee; Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea
Young Ho Won; Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Corresponding

Young Ho Won, Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea. Tel: (062) 220-6681, Fax: (062) 222-4058, e-mail: yhwon@chonnam.chonnam.ac.kr

Publication history

Acknowledgements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Jin Hee Jun

Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Jee Bum Lee

Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Seong Jin Kim

Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Seung Chul Lee

Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Young Ho Won

Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School Gwangju, Korea

Since epub date 2016 February 20