A farm labourer from rural India presents with a slowly growing verrucous plaque on the dorsum of the foot over several years. Biopsy shows large, round, thick-walled, brown-pigmented cells that divide by internal transverse and longitudinal septation. Which morphological form is diagnostic here?

• A Medlar bodies (muriform cells) ✓
• B Copper penny bodies within giant cells
• C Sclerotic granules discharged from sinuses
• D Broad-based budding yeast cells

Explanation

Chromoblastomycosis, caused by pigmented (dematiaceous) fungi such as Fonsecaea pedrosoi and Cladophialophora carrionii, is diagnosed histologically by muriform or Medlar bodies: thick-walled brown cells that divide by planar septation in two planes rather than by budding. Copper penny bodies is a synonym sometimes used, but option B describes them as being within giant cells, which is not the defining feature tested. Sclerotic granules indicate eumycetoma, and broad-based budding indicates Blastomyces.

Reference: Ananthanarayan and Paniker's Textbook of Microbiology, 11th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.