Rhinosporidiosis: The Confusing Pseudofungal Infection

The microbial world is very strange.  We all know the basic pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, worms, protozoa, and fungi.  The fact is the world is full of my types of microorganisms and sometimes we do not know how to really classify them.
We also need to know if such organisms pose a threat to humans.  As I was researching more interesting parasitic infections, I came across an interesting infection called rhinosporidiosis.  This infection was believed to be caused by a fungus but now has been determined to be an aquatic protozoa.  The symptoms for this infection are nasty and I believe everyone should at least be familiar with it.

General Description:
Rhinosporidiosis is a pseudofungal infection caused by the aquatic protozoa Rhinosporidium seeberi.  This parasite normally is found in fish but can infect other animals the come in contact with infected water.  This infection is most common in South Asia but cases have been reported all over the world.  The eyes and nasal cavity are the two common locations where the parasite causes damage and symptoms usually consist of polyps or tumor-like growths that grow in the affected areas.  Although there is no clear medication to cure this infection, there are other viable treatments.

Polyps due to rhinosporidiosis.  Link to image can be found here.

Locations:
This infection has been documented in almost 70 different countries.  The majority of cases come from India and Sri Lanka.  This is because rhinosporidiosis thrives in more tropical climates.  Cases in South America and Africa have been increasing over the past years as well.  Infections in the United States are rare and most are due to people bringing the parasite when traveling abroad.

Infection Method:
Very strangely, the way the infection is acquired will determine the symptoms that will appear.  Normally, the nasal infection associated with this parasite is contracted when swimming in still freshwater that is contaminated.  The eye infection is contracted when spores drift in the air or dust during summer months.  About 70% of all cases are nasal infections and 15% are eye infections.  The infection usually enters the body through openings in the body from injury or direct contact with the nasal cavity or eyes.

Symptoms:
The primary symptom of rhinosporidiosis are the polyps that grown in the nasal cavity and outside the eyes.  These polyps are usually red or pink and tend to bleed easily.  Other symptoms include:

• redness of the eye
• photophobia
• sneezing
• rhinorrhea
• nasal discharge
• hemoptysis
• painful swallowing
• secondary bacterial infections

Treatment:

This infection can be diagnosed by detecting it in tissue from a biopsy or by visually seeing the polyps.  There is no definite medication to cure rhinosporidiosis but surgical removal of the polyps has proven effective.  There is a chance the infection can return after the surgery.

Final Thoughts:

Microbiology is interesting.  This parasite for the longest of time was seen as a fungus and later classified as a protozoa.  Thankfully, this clarification can lead to better treatments in the future.  According to the research, this parasite resides in still contaminated water and dust.  I believe that if you come across still water that looks nasty, you should keep away from it.  Most hikers would agree that they would not camp close to water that looks too still or contaminated.  To be safe, if traveling or camping, do not swim in still water.  This kind of water is easy to recognize, as it looks very mossy and murky.

I hope you all enjoyed this post!  Leave a comment or suggestion!

References:

http://web.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2002/rhinosporidiosis/index.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1081399/

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/227734-overview#showall