Pulmonary mycetoma due to Allescheria boydii

IN CERTAIN parts of the world, including the United States,Allescheria boydiiandMonosporium apiosperumare different phases of the fungus1most frequently isolated from mycetomas of the extremities. This organism has also been described as causing otomycosis,2septicemia,3and meningitis.4Three other cases of deep-seated allescheriasis have involved the respiratory tract. In 1955, Drouhet recorded a case of pulmonary mycetoma but gave no additional clinical details.5In the same year, Creitz and Harris recovered the organism from the sputum of a patient treated for eight months with multiple antibiotics for chronic bronchitis and emphysema.6The latter patient had bilateral upper lobe cavities which were later found to containA boydii, almost certainly as a secondary invader.7Travis et al recoveredA boydiirepeatedly from the sputum of a patient with sarcoidosis and bilateral upper lobe cavities who had been treated with antibiotics and adrenal glucocorticoids. At autopsy, the