The histological and the histopathological pattern of conjunctival rhinosporidiosis associated with papillomavirus infection.

The present study describes for the first time, the clinical, light and electron microscopic findings of two cases of conjunctival rhinosporidiosis. One was with concurrent infection of papillomavirus. Investigations at the ultrastructural level have provided additional information on the development of Rhinosporidium seeberi and would suggest that the formation of the wall of this organism is a continuous morphological and biochemical spectrum throughout its cytological maturation. The current observation on the wall formation is probably a modification of the classical pattern as an environmental protection carried out by the fungus against the virus. In contradistinction to the usual histopathological picture of rhinosporidiosis, the case with the viral infection lacked the characteristic marked inflammatory reaction. This finding, together with the relatively short interval of the frequent recurrences of this lesion, have led us to postulate the presence of a localised acquired immune deficiency state. It is possible that this local immune deficiency may be caused by an immunosuppression mechanism. This is probably mediated by papillomavirus and/or due to the weak antigenicity of the host virus-infected cells which contain only copies of viral DNA in an unintegrated form.