Clinical Features of Rhinosporidiosis in the Endemic Areas of Brazil

Background: Rhinosporidiosis is a rare chronic disease caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi, mainly
affecting the nasal and conjunctival mucosa. The diagnosis is made through histopathological
examination. The disease is endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with few cases described in Brazil.
Thus, this study aimed to describe clinical and histopathological aspects of rhinosporidiosis in an area
of northeastern, Brazil.
Methods: To identify the clinical and histopathological characteristics, a retrospective study was
carried out on 21 patients diagnosed with rhinosporidiosis at the Presidente Dutra University Hospital
during 10 years. The data are obtained from medical records and review of histological slides of each
case.
Results: In this study, most of the patients were men (80.00%), aging between the first and second
decade of life, and with an infection in the nasal cavity (85.71%). Their main complaints were
nonspecific, such as foreign body sensation, nasal obstruction and epistaxis, which decreased clinical
suspicion (14.28%). Hemograms showed a high eosinophil count (14.01%, ±13.73). The main
morphological alterations found in histopathological analysis were squamous metaplasia, mucosal
hyperplasia, vascular ectasia, and inflammatory infiltration.
Conclusions: In our country, little is known about the pathogenesis of rhinosporidiosis, and it is easily
confused with other pathologies. However, our cases have shown a series of morphological
alterations that can be helpful to histopathological diagnosis and are poorly described in the literature.