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Paracoccidioides brasiliensis in a liquid‐based Papanicolaou test from a pregnant woman: Report of a case
Author(s) -
Alsharif Mariam,
Martin Andrea U.,
Shelton Jack B.,
Pambuccian Stefan E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/dc.20847
Subject(s) - papanicolaou stain , papanicolaou test , paracoccidioides brasiliensis , medicine , cervix , pathology , gynecology , cervical cancer , cancer
With the exception of Candida species, fungal organisms are rarely encountered in the Papanicolaou test and, when encountered, usually represent contaminants rather then infections. We present the case of a healthy 29‐year‐old pregnant female, gravida 1, para 0, who presented for her first prenatal visit at 12‐week gestation and had many large fungal‐like elements with a distinct budding pattern of multiple narrow‐based buds resembling a “ship's‐wheel” identified in her routine liquid‐based Papanicolaou test. Based on its characteristic appearance in the Papanicolaou test and the hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid Schiff and Gomori's methenamine silver stains performed on the cell block made from the residual sample, the fungus was diagnosed as “consistent with Paracoccidioides.” This is the second reported case of Paracoccidioides presenting in a Papanicolaou test and shows that this organism may rarely involve the uterine cervix in the absence of clinical systemic disease. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2008; 36: 557–560. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.