Fusarium Cutaneous Infection in a neutropenic girl with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Fusarium species are common plant pathogens present in the environment but can cause invasive infections in immunocompromised patients, especially those with haematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplant recipients1. Tissue and blood cultures are especially important as they offer a high diagnostic yield in invasive fusariosis2-3. Amphotericin B has been used as the mainstay of treatment4 although resistant rates are high, especially in Fusarium solani species5. The treatment outcome is also closely related to rate of recovery of neutropenia

simple test for placental sulphate deficiency

Placental sulphatase deficiency is a well-recognized disorder recorded in well over 20 cases. Together with fetal adrenal hypoplasia it is a cause of extremely low 24-hour maternal urinary oestriol values with an apparently healthy growing fetus. In both conditions fetal growth, as measured by ultrasound, is satisfactory and other placental function tests, such as plasma human placental lactogen, are normal. Unfortunately gestation is usually prolonged, induction of labour difficult and delivery by Caesarean section common. In the case of fetal adrenal hypoplasia an 'addisonian' crisis can be precipitated by the stress of labour and is a source of considerable concern to the paediatrician. We report here a simple method for the differentiation of these two conditions during the antenatal period