Introduction
Nasal rhinosporidiosis is a chronic granulomatous disease of the nose
caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi.1-5 The disease
predominantly affects the mucous membrane of the nose, nasopharynx and
conjunctiva. Rhinosporidiosis tend to occur in human beings and
in animals and is more common in hot tropical climates though highly
endemic in India and Sri Lanka.6-9 Sporadic pattern
for the disease has been reported in other parts of the world such as
Argentina, Brazil and Africa.9
In terms of sex predilection, there is no racial predominance and males
are ore affected than females especially those aged 15-40 years with
male to female ratio being 4:1.2,10,11Rhinosporidiosis may be transmitted by direct contact with spores
through dust, infected clothing and swimming in stagnant
water.7,8,12,13 Though the disease remains to be very
rare in our country yet there are some countries that have reported
several cases including Nigeria.8 The diagnosis of
nasal rhinosporidiosis is established by observing the characteristics
of the causative organisms in nasal tissue biopsies like sporangia that
may be at variable stages of maturation. Since it presents like a
polypoidal mass in the nasal cavity, it mimicks other diseases
presenting with nasal masses 5,14-17 thus a high index
of suspicion by clinicians is of importance in management of patients
with nasal masses in the era of this emerging disease entity. The main
stay of treatment is surgical excision of the nasal mass though a high
recurrence rate has been reported.4,5,15,17 It may
lead to death immunocompromised patients.18 To the
best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of nasal
rhinosporidiosis in Central Tanzania and the 16th case
countrywide
We are therefore reporting a case of nasal rhinosporidiosis that was
managed by endoscopic surgical excision of the nasal mass and kept on
oral dapsone for 6 months postoperatively.