Penicillium marneffei

Penicillium marneffei
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Phylum:	Ascomycota
Class:	Euascomycetes
Order:	Eurotiales
Family:	Trichocomaceae
Genus:	Penicillium
Species:	P. marneffei
Binomial name
Penicillium marneffei Segretain

Penicillium species are usually regarded as unimportant in terms of causing human disease. Penicillium marneffei, discovered in 1956, is an exception. This is the only known thermally dimorphic species of Penicillium, and it can cause a lethal systemic infection (penicilliosis) with fever and anaemia similar to disseminated .

There is a high incidence of penicilliosis in AIDS patients in SE Asia; 10% of patients in Hong Kong get penicillosis as an AIDS-related illness. Cases of P. marneffei human infections (penicillosis) have also been reported in HIV-positive patients in Australia, Europe, Japan, the UK and the U.S.. All the patients, except one, had visited Southeast Asia previously.

Discovered in bamboo rats (Rhizomys) in Vietnam, it is associated with these rats and the tropical Southeast Asia area. Penicillium marneffei is endemic in Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Southern China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Wikipedia