Isolation of the causative agent of chromomycosis from environmental objects and the experimental study of its pathogenic properties
Agarunova, I.S.; Suteeva, T.G.; Egorova, T.P.
Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 49(6): 57-61
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326 PMID: 6451791 Document Number: 164327
For the purpose of isolation from the environment of Hormodendrum, the causative agents of chromomycosis, 646 specimens of soil, plants, air and water collected in the Moscow region and in Uzbekistan, USSR, were examined. The results of the air and water cultures were negative. Cultures of the soil and plants collected in the Moscow region were positive. No fungi were isolated from the same substrates collected in Uzbekistan. This fact seemingly confirms the predominant detection of patients with chromomycosis in regions of the USSR with moderate climate; it is at variance with the concept accepted in the foreign literature regarding chromomycosis as a disease of hot climate countries. The pathogenic properties of Hormodendrum and (the closely related) Cladosporium, saprophytic in the environment, were studied in 56 guinea pigs. The fungi caused a specific pathological process in the animals with a course characteristic of chromomycosis, i.e., both genera are potential causative agents of chromomycosis.