Sporotrichosis is regarded as the most common subcutaneous fungal mycosis, which occurs following traumatic inoculation of Sporothrix schenckii complex. Albeit rare, sporotrichosis, also known as 'rose gardener's disease', has been reported to involve children whereby active or passive transmission through a vector such as domestic animals has been identified as the main culprit. Herein, we report sporotrichosis in a pair of siblings who presented to the outpatient Otorhinolaryngology clinic in University Malaya Medical Centre with a lower lips skin lesion and submental swelling after kissing their domestic cat. Sporotrichosis was diagnosed following the fungal culture of the skin scrapings of the lower lip’s pustular lesions. Prompt treatment with oral itraconazole (8 mg/kg/day) for six weeks showed the resolution of symptoms. We highlight the pathophysiology of zoonotic sporotrichosis and the mode of management of this entity. Additionally, the management of sporotrichosis should include the veterinarian's assessment of the infected animal.
Sporotrichosis

Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a disease that confounds clinicians worldwide due to the difficulty in confirming its diagnosis and determining the best treatment plan. We report a case of a 34-year-old lady who presented with bilateral inflamed auricular swelling and red eyes, which turned out to be relapsing polychondritis. The patient was successfully treated with long-term oral steroids and is on regular follow-up. This report highlights how the subtle signs of her condition were picked up, leading to her diagnosis of RP and the treatment regime that successfully reversed her symptoms. The challenge of picking up subtle signs of the disease is best met by working as a team in a multidisciplinary setting. A literature study shows that RP is a rare disease that can present with many symptoms.
Polychondritis, Relapsing

Introduction: To correlate the score obtained using a bilingual (Malay and English) 14 points questionnaire in the detection of hearing loss at the University of Malaya, Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia over a 9 month period. Methods: This is a prospective instrument correlation study done on 93 children aged 1-4 years of age with speech and language delay for at least 3 months. Hearing status was confirmed using otoacoustic emissions, pure tone audiometry and brainstem evoked response (BSER). Hearing status was then compared to the 14-point questionnaire final scores and is statistically correlated. Results: There were 26 patients, 15 males (58%) and 11(42%) females who were diagnosed to have hearing loss. The average age of presentation was 2.49 and conductive hearing loss accounted for about 74% of cases of hearing loss. The mean questionnaire score obtained through our patients was 3.83±1.987. Discriminant analysis suggests that a questionnaire score of above 4 was indicative that the child was suffering from hearing loss. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the low-cost bilingual (Malay and English) questionnaire can be used to detect hearing loss in the Malaysian population and could potentially be useful in rural health centres to help detect hearing loss and to determine the urgency of referral to a tertiary health centre.