Mycetoma describes a heterogeneous group of cutaneous and subcutaneous infections caused by either fungi (eumycetomas) or bacteria (actinomycetomas). It is characterized by a triad of clinical symptoms: painless subcutaneous tumor-like swelling, multiple sinuses and fistulas, and discharged grains in pus. This predominantly affects the feet in more than 70% of patients. It is endemic in the “mycetoma belt” regions, including Africa, South America, and South Asia. Autochthonous mycetoma is rare in the United States of America (USA). We recently reported a Latin American immigrant with eumycetoma in the State of Maryland, USA. With millions of immigrants from endemic regions, the true number of mycetomas in the USA is most likely higher than currently recognized. With the aim to raise the awareness of clinicians about mycetoma, especially dermatologists and podiatrists, we update the development of the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentations, pathogenesis, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of mycetoma.

Complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs) are difficult to treat, consume substantial resources, and cause increased patient morbidity. Data suggest that cUTI may be caused by polymicrobial and fastidious organisms (PMOs and FOs, respectively); as such, urine culture (UC) may be an unreliable diagnostic tool for detecting cUTIs. We sought to determine the utility of PCR testing for patients presumed to have a cUTI and determine the impact of PCR panel size on organism detection. We reviewed 36,586 specimens from patients with presumptive cUTIs who received both UC and PCR testing. Overall positivity rate for PCR and UC was 52.3% and 33.9%, respectively (p < 0.01). PCR detected more PMO and FO than UC (PMO: 46.2% vs. 3.6%; FO: 31.3% vs. 0.7%, respectively, both p < 0.01). Line-item concordance showed that PCR detected 90.2% of organisms identified by UC whereas UC discovered 31.9% of organisms detected by PCR (p < 0.01). Organism detection increased with expansion in PCR panel size from 5–25 organisms (p < 0.01). Our data show that overall positivity rate and the detection of individual organisms, PMO and FO are significantly with PCR testing and that these advantages are ideally realized with a PCR panel size of 25 or greater.