Superficial Fungal Infections |
Disease | Causative Organisms | Structures Infected | Microscopic Appearance |
Epidermophytosis, e.g., dhobie itch | Epidermophyton, e.g., floccosum | Inguinal, axillary, and interdigital folds; hairs not affected | Long, wavy, branched, and segmented hyphae and spindle-shaped cells in stratum corneum |
Favus (tinea favosa) | Trichophyton schoenleinii | Epidermis around a hair; all parts of body; nails | Vertical hyphae and spores in epidermis; sinuous branching mycelium and chains in hairs |
Ringworm (tinea, otomycosis) | Microsporum, e.g., audouinii | Horny layer of epidermis and hairs, chiefly of scalp | Fine septate mycelium inside hairs and scales; spores in rows and mosaic plaques on hair surface |
| Trichophyton, e.g., tonsurans | Hairs of scalp, beard, and other parts; nails | Mycelium of chained cubical elements and threads in and on hairs; often pigmented |
Thrush and other forms of cand idiasis | Cand ida albicans | Tongue, mouth, throat, vagina, and skin | Yeastlike budding cells and oval thick-walled bodies in lesion |
Systemic Fungal Infections |
Aspergillosis | Aspergillus fumigatus | Lungs | Y-shaped branching of septate hyphae |
Blastomycosis | Blastomyces brasiliensis, B. dermatitidis | Skin and lungs | Yeastlike cells demonstrated in lesion |
Cand idiasis | Cand ida albicans | Esophagus, lungs, peritoneum, mucous membranes | Small, thin-walled, ovoid cells |
Coccidioidomycosis | Coccidioides immitis | Respiratory tract | Nonbudding spores containing many endospores, in sputum |
Cryptococcosis | Cryptococcus neoformans | Meninges, lungs, bone, skin | Yeastlike fungus having gelatinous capsule; demonstrated in spinal fluid |
Histoplasmosis | Histoplasma capsulatum | Lungs | Oval, budding, uninucleated cells |