Gastro-intestinal Basidiobolomycosis in the Last Ten Years amongst Children in Southern Iran

Introduction and Objectives: Gastro-intestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is a rare fungal infection caused by Basidiobolus ranarum. Fewer than 50 cases of GIB were reported worldwide between 1964 and 2012 (Duringa 48 year period), less than 20 of which have been reported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Nigeria, USA, and Brazil. This study aimed at presenting GIB cases in southern Iran. Materials and Methods: All patients infected with GIB were studied during the last 10 years from the year 2009. A questionnaire was completed for the 18 infected cases admitted in pediatrics wards. Patients complaints, physical examination, clinical symphtoms, abdominal sonography and patology reports were investigated. SPSS software was applied to analyzed the data. Results: The mean(SD) age of the women was 5.06 (±4.10) years. Fourtheen (77.8% ) of them were male and 4 (22.2%) were female. Abdominal pain was the most frequent complaint that was reported by 83.3% of the patients and most of them had fever (66.7%). The most common impression on admission for majority of the patients was lymphoma. Conclussion: Although GIB is a rare infection all over the world, the results in southern Iran showed it is not as rare as in other countries. It should be considered in any child with chronic or sub-acute abdominal pain and mass to prevent delayed diagnosis.