Nodular Cutaneous Microsporidiosis in a Patient with AIDS and Successful Treatment with Long-Term Oral Clindamycin Therapy

1 June 1998 | Volume 128 Issue 11 | Pages 911-914

Background: In AIDS, nodular skin disease can result from various causes.

Objective: To report a new manifestation of microsporidial infection presenting as nodular skin disease with underlying osteomyelitis.

Design: Case report.

Setting: Tertiary-care military medical center in Washington, D.C.

Patient: A 36-year-old woman with late-stage AIDS who presented with disseminated, nodular cutaneous lesions and underlying osteomyelitis.

Measurements: Disseminated microsporidial infection with an Encephalitozoon-like species was diagnosed by electron microscopic examination of material obtained from the skin lesions.

Intervention: The patient received long-term oral clindamycin therapy, which cured her disseminated infection.

Conclusions: Microsporidia can cause disseminated cutaneous infections in AIDS patients. The response of this patient to long-term clindamycin therapy merits further evaluation.

Author and Article Information

From Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. For current author addresses, see end of text.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Elaine Ellis, Department of Pathology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, for electron microscopy and Dr. Charles N. Oster, Infectious Disease Service, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, for valued advice and encouragement. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the U.S. Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.
Requests for Reprints: Kent E. Kester, MD, Department of Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100; e-mail, kesterk@wrsmtp-ccmail.army.mil.