A case of cutaneous leishmaniasis misdiagnosed as cutaneous aspergillosis and successfully treated with terbinafine / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

A 5-year-old Mongolian girl from Inner Mongolia presented with a painless,round skin lesion on the left cheek for 10 months.Several weeks prior to the development of lesions,her left cheek was seratched by a dog.Subsequently small asymptomatic erythematous papules developed at the scratched site and gradually enlarged.Direct microscopy of scales from the lesions revealed septate,branching hyphae and fungal culture grew Eurotiom amstelodami(perfect stage of aspergillus).She was initially diagnosed as cutaneous aspergillosis and treated with itraconazole 200 mg per day for 2 months,but limited improvement was achieved.Histopathological examination with Wright-Giemsa staining of skin biopsies revealed abundant leishman Donovani hodies intracellulatry and extracellularly in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue; PAS staining of tissue specimens showed no fungal element and fungal culture was negative.She was finally diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis.After treatment with terbinafine 125 mg per day for 2 months,the lesion subsided.