Detection of a Lophomonas, a rare pathogen in Bronchoalveolar lavage.

Abstract

Lophomonas infection is an emerging parasitic disease-causing respiratory infection. Although common in immunocompromised patient, it has been observed also in some immunocompetent cases. We report the case of a 45-year-old male who presented with productive cough, fever, and chest pain, with marked eosinophilia and cavitary lesion in the X-ray chest. KOH preparation and acid-fast bacilli microscopy of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were negative. Direct microscopic examination of BAL accidentally showed a large number of living Lophomonas species with the movement of flagella. Methylene blue and Giemsa staining showed the plume of flagella and the nucleus. The patient was managed conservatively with metronidazole and get cured. It was concluded that the patient presented with signs and symptoms of pneumonia must be evaluated for rare events also if the patient was not responding with typical management of pneumonia. We reported the first case of this rare entity in Chhattisgarh state in an immunocompetent young Indian male.