Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:10:55.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

VIII.55 - Fungus Infections (Mycoses)

from Part VIII - Major Human Diseases Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Kenneth F. Kiple
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Get access

Summary

Although today, some 200 fungi are established as pathogenic for humans, causing a wide range of diverse mycoses (with an incidence measured in millions and a worldwide distribution), through the mid-nineteenth century, only two human diseases (or rather disease complexes) caused by fungi were generally recognized. These were ringworm and thrush, known since Roman times. Two important additions came at the end of the century: mycetoma of the foot (Carter 1874) and aspergillosis (Lucet 1897; Rénon 1897).

Fungi were the first pathogenic microorganisms to be recognized. Toward the end of the eighteenth century and the opening years of the nineteenth, they had been shown experimentally to cause disease in plants and insects, and during the 1840s both ringworm and thrush were shown to be mycotic in origin. For a short period, fungi were blamed for causing many diseases. Cholera, for example, was attributed to fungi. But with the recognition of the major role played by bacteria (and later, viruses) in the etiology of human disease, fungi were neglected and medical mycology became very confused. It has been only since the 1930s, with the deployment of trained mycologists to work in conjunction with clinicians, that the identity of the pathogenic fungi has been clarified, and studies on their ecology have done much to elucidate epidemiological problems. In general, the geographic distribution of mycoses (which at first tended to coincide with that of medical mycologists) has been established, and the relation of mycoses to other human diseases has been brought into perspective.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, G. C. 1987. Introduction to the history of medical and veterinary mycology. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ashworth, J. H. 1923. On Rhinosporidium seeberi (Wernicke, 1903) with special reference to sporulation and affinities. Transactions of the Royal Society, Edinburgh 53: 301–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Austwick, P. K. C. 1965. Pathogenicity. In The genus Aspergillus, ed. Raper, K. B. and Fennell, D. I., 82–126. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Carter, H. V. 1874. On mycetoma or the fungus disease of India. London.Google Scholar
Connant, N. F., et al. 1971. Manual of clinical mycology, 3d edition. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Emmons, C. W. 1934. Dermatophytes: Natural grouping based on the form of the spores and accessory organs. Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology 30: 337–62.Google Scholar
Emmons, C. W., Binford, C. H., and Utz, J. P.. 1971. Medical mycology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Fiese, M. J. 1958. Coccidioidomycosis. Springfield, Ill..Google Scholar
Higgs, J. M. 1972. Muco-cutaneous candidiasis: Historical aspects. Transactions of the St. John’s Hospital Dermatological Society 59: 175–94.Google Scholar
Howard, D. H., ed. 1982. Fungi pathogenic for humans and animals, 3 vols. New York and Basel.Google Scholar
Littman, M. L., and Zimmerman, L. E.. 1956. Cryptococcosis. New York.Google Scholar
Lucet, A. 1897. De I’Aspergillus fumigatus chez animaux domestiques et dans les oeufs en incubation. Paris.Google Scholar
Mackinnon, J. E. 1949. The dependence on the weather of the incidence of sporotrichosis. Mycopathologia 4: 367–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahgoub, El L., and Murray, I. C.. 1973. Mycetoma. London.Google Scholar
Odds, F. C. 1979. Candida and candidosis. Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Rénon, L. 1897. Etude sur I’aspergillose chez les animaux et chez I’homme. Paris.Google Scholar
Stevens, D. 1981. Coccidioidomycosis: A text. New York.Google Scholar
Warnock, D. W., and Richardson, M. D., eds. 1982. Fungal infection of the compromised patient. Chichester, U.K..Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×