Pseudallescheria boydii
| Pseudallescheria boydii | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Crushed cleistothecium of Pseudallescheria boydii mounted in Melzer's reagent, showing dextrinoid reaction of ascospores | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Sordariomycetes |
| Order: | Microascales |
| Family: | Microascaceae |
| Genus: | Pseudallescheria |
| Species: | P. boydii |
| Binomial name | |
|
Pseudallescheria boydii (Shear) McGinnis, A.A.Padhye & Ajello (1982) |
|
| Synonyms | |
Pseudallescheria boydii is a species of fungus classified in the Ascomycota. It is associated with some forms of eumycetoma, maduromycosis and pseudallescheriasis. Typically found in stagnant and polluted water, it has been implicated in the infection of immunocompromised and near-drowned pneumonia patients. Its asexual (anamorphic) form is Scedosporium apiospermum. Treatment of infections with P. boydii is complicated by its resistance to many of the standard antifungal agents normally used to treat infections by filamentous fungi.
Pseudallescheria boydii fungal infection killed three athletes injured in the 1997 Maccabiah Games when, at the opening ceremony, a bridge collapsed into the Yarkon River.
The fungus was originally described by American mycologist Cornelius Lott Shear in 1922 as a species of Allescheria. Shear obtained cultures from a patient of the Medical Department of the University of Texas. The microbe was apparently associated with a penetrating thorn the patient had incurred in his ankle while running barefoot 12 years before. The diseased area was found to contain hyphae-containing granules that, when cultured, led to the growth of the organism. Shear considered the fungus most closely related to Eurotiopsis gayoni (now called Allescheria gayoni). The specific epithet boydii refers to Dr. Mark F. Boyd, who sent Lott the specimen. David Malloch moved the species to the newly created genus Petriellidium in 1970. The species was transferred to the genus Pseudallescheria in 1982 when examination of the type specimens of Petriellidium and Pseudallescheria revealed that they were the same genus.
...
Wikipedia