A Bimodal Analysis of Clinical Phenotypes and Eosinophilic Responses as Prognostic Indicators in Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis.
AI interpretation is pending for this paper.
Open original publication →What the AI sees
Not AI summarized yet.
Research significance
Pending deeper interpretation.
Source abstract
INTRODUCTION: Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is an emerging infection caused by Basidiobolus ranarum (Entomophthorales), typically producing chronic granulomatous inflammation in immunocompetent hosts and remains under-recognized in endemic regions. We compared pediatric and adult disease trajectories and assessed whether absolute eosinophil count (AEC) is associated with outcome. METHODS: We conducted a 10-year (2015-2024) single-center retrospective observational study at The Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, including 13 patients with GIB diagnosed primarily by characteristic histopathology, including the Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon with eosinophil-rich inflammation, supported by clinical and radiologic findings; patients were stratified into pediatric (n = 7; mean age ∼4 years) and adult (n = 6; mean age ∼55 years) cohorts. RESULTS: Children most often presented with fever and abdominal pain, whereas adults more commonly presented with weight loss, constipation, and/or an abdominal mass (malignancy-mimicking phenotype); mean AEC was significantly higher in children than adults (4.44 × 10⁹/L vs 1.85 × 10⁹/L, p = 0.035), and was the only laboratory parameter to differ significantly between groups. Mortality occurred only in adults (33.3% (2/6)); fatal cases demonstrated a blunted eosinophilic response (mean AEC ∼0.9 × 10⁹/L) compared to survivors (reported mean AEC ∼4.5 × 10⁹/L). CONCLUSION: GIB demonstrates a bimodal clinical phenotype with adult-predominant mortality, and lower AEC may signal worse prognosis, warranting validation in larger multicenter cohorts.