ABSTRACT

Candida dubliniensis is a pathogenic yeast which is rarely encountered in clinical practice. An 83-year-old HIV-negative woman with numerous medical co-morbidities presented with a dental abscess which was preceded by a long-standing toothache. The right side of her face was swollen from the preauricular to the malar and submandibular regions. A computed tomography scan revealed a masseteric abscess with air pockets extending to the right temporalis muscle. She underwent two separate incision and drainage procedures, performed one week apart. A yeast which formed branched pseudohyphae with thick-walled triplet terminal chlamydospores was cultured from her pus specimen. The yeast was identified biochemically as C. dubliniensis. However, before any antifungal agent could be administered, the patient succumbed to her illness.