Miscellaneous Oportunistic fungal pathogens

1. No known sexual stage (fungi imperfecti)

2. Filamentous in plant debris and soil

3. Causes: Onychomycosis, keratitis, endocarditis, meningitis, peritonitis, and osteomyelitis

• Macro:
• *Rapid grower
• *White & Cottony

• Micro:
• *Hyaline, septate hyphae
• *Unbranched erect phialides are formed at the end of the hyphal tips
• *conidia in clusters or gragile chains

1. Causes: Onychomycosis, keratitis, endocarditis, meningitis, peritonitis, and osteomyelitis

Amphotericin B

Fungi Imperfecti

(when imperfecti, they reproduce by conidia)

• Macro:
• *Rapid
• *Wooly to cottony, flat, spreading
• *Front - White, cream, tan, salmon, cinnamon, yellow, red, violet, pink, or purple
• *Reverse - Colorless, tan, red, dk purple, or brwon

• Micro:
• * Macroconidia
• * Thick walled
• * Smooth
• * Canoe shaped (cylindrical or sickle)

• Fusariosis - from trauma or inhaled conidia
• mycoses
• disseminated inf. high mortality

• Treatment:
• ***One of the most resistant fungi.
• Amphotericin B, voriconazole, & natamycin have low MIC's

fungi imperfecti

World wide in soil, water, air, sewage, plants, cereals, & dairy

• Macro:
• Rapid
• White, dry, powdery to cottony (ground glass appearance)
• may be yeast like
• 25C

• Micro:
• Arthroconidia
• Coarse *true hyphae
• rectangular or rounded ends

Ingestion or Inhalation

Voriconazole has lowest MIC

High mortality for disseminated disease.

Perfect fungi

soil, decaying plants & food products

Onychomycois, sinusitis, otitis media, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis, & catheter related

Amphotericin B

• MACRO:
• Rapid
• **P. variotii = thermophilic
• Flat, powdery or velvety
• Front: initially white ⇨ yellow, yellow green, yellow brown, olive brwon, pink, or violet

Back: Dirty white, buff, or brown

**Hallmark** for paecilomyces is that micro and macroscopic resemble penicillium spp.

• Micro:
• Septate hyaline hyphae
• Conidiophores are often branched
• Phialides are swollen at their bases and taper towards their apices
• Conidia are unicellular, hyaline to darkly colored and form longs chains
• Usually grouped in pairs or brush like clusters

Pefect fungi


P. marneffei SE Asia (thermal dimorph

• Virulent in AIDS patients
• ~ keratitis, endophtalmitis, otomycyosis, necrotizing esophagitis, pneumonia, endocarditis, peritonitis, and UTI

P. marneffei often fatal

Amp B or conazoles for most 

P. marneffei:  combination: conazoles.

• Macro:
• Rapid
• velvety, woolly, or cottony
• Front: white ⇨ blue green, gray gree, olive gray, yellow, or pinkish
• Reverse:  Pale to yellowish

• Micro:
• Flask shaped phialides
• Form brush like clusters
• Conidia are round, unicellular that form unbranching chains at the tips of the phialides.

Soil, plant material, feathers, and insects

• Onychomycosis *especially of the toe nails
• Disseminated = High mortality

Variable: Amp B, keto and vori conazole

Macro: Moderately rapid, granular to powdery

• Front - White intitially and becomes light brown or buff (Khaki to me)
• Reverse - tan with brownish center

• Micro:
• Septate hyphae
• conidiophores are hyphae like and simple or branched
• Round conidia that are slightly flattened where they break off from daughter cell. Also have tiny projections off of conidia