Medically important fungi Flashcards
What are fungal diseases known as?
Mycoses
What are the 5 types of fungal infections?
- Superficial
- Cutaneous
- Subcutaneous
- Systemic
- Opportunistic
- Superficial myscoses infect:
- How do they typically infect?
- Skin and hair
- Direct contact
Malassezia furfur
- Where does it live?
- What disease does it cause?
- Lives in epithelial cells
- Pityriasis versicolor
What are the symptoms of pityriasis versicolor?
Hypopigmentation
Destroys malanocytes (pigment cells)
Trichophyton rubrum
What diseases does it cause?
What part of the body does it infect?
How is it contracted?
- Tinea diseases: Ringworm, jock itch, athlete’s foot
- Infect deeper Keratinized layers
- Direct contact
- How do subcutaneous fungi typically infect?
- What type of disease are they?
Direct contact through traumatized skin
Chronic condition
Sporothrix schenckii
- What disease does it cause?
- Where does it travel throughout the body?
- Sporotrichosis (rose gardener’s disease)
- Travels in lymphatic system
What are the signs of sporotrichosis?
- Makes hard nodules
- Become necrotic
What are systemic mycoses?
- In what form do they present themselves?
- How are they acquired?
Found in multiple parts of body
- Usually dimorphic (hyphae to yeast)
- Usually infect by inhalation of spores
Histoplasma capsulatum
What disease does it cause?
Where does it grow?
- Histoplasmosis
- Grows in lung macrophages then goes systemic
What are the signs of histoplasmosis?
Lesions of brain, intestine, heart
Cryptococcus neofromans
- What disease does it cause?
- Where is it typically found?
- How does it infect?
- Cryptococcosis
- Found in bird droppings
- Inhaled then escapes to blood
What are the signs of cryptococcosis?
- Meningitis
- tumor-like masses of brain
How do opportunistic mycoses infect?
Part of normal flora
Take advantage when person is immunocompromised
