SYMPOSIUM Chaetomium atrobrunneum causing human eumycetoma: The first report Najwa A. Mhmoud1,2, Antonella Santona3, Maura Fiamma3, Emmanuel Edwar Siddig1, 3 1,4 3 Massimo Deligios , Sahar Mubarak BakhietID , Salvatore Rubino , Ahmed 1 Hassan FahalID * 1 Mycetoma Research Centre, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan, 2 Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan, 3 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy, 4 Institute for Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan *
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[email protected] Author summary In this communication, a case of black grain eumycetoma produced by the fungus C. atro- a1111111111 brunneum is reported. The patient was initially misdiagnosed with M. mycetomatis eumy- a1111111111 cetoma based on the grains' morphological and cytological features. However, further a1111111111 aerobic culture of the black grains generated a melanised fungus identified as C. atrobrun- a1111111111 neum by conventional morphological methods and by internal transcribed spacer 2 a1111111111 (ITS2) ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. This is the first-ever report of C. atrobrunneum as a eumycetoma-causative organism of black grain eumycetoma. It is essential that the causative organism is identified to the species level, as this is important for proper patient management and to predict treatment outcome and prognosis. OPEN ACCESS Citation: Mhmoud NA, Santona A, Fiamma M, Siddig EE, Deligios M, Bakhiet SM, et al. (2019) Chaetomium atrobrunneum causing human Overview eumycetoma: The first report. PLoS Negl Trop Dis Mycetoma is a chronic, progressive, granulomatous, subcutaneous inflammatory disease. It is 13(5): e0007276. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pntd.0007276 caused by certain fungi and bacteria, and thus, it is classified as a eumycetoma and an actino- mycetoma, respectively.