What is Wangiella?
Wangiella (Exophiala) dermatitidis. Wangiella dermatitidis is a black (melanized) fungus that is recognized as a paradigm for the emerging human mycosis known as phaeohyphomycosis and also as a model for the more than one hundred other black fungi known to cause human disease.
What causes Exophiala dermatitidis?
Exophiala dermatitidis, a dematiaceous fungus typically found in decaying organic matter worldwide, is a rare cause of fungal infections. Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis is a sporadic but often fatal infection of the brain caused by E. dermatitidis.
What does phaeohyphomycosis mean?
Phaeohyphomycosis refers to infections caused by many kinds of dark, melanin-pigmented dematiaceous fungi. It is distinguished from chromoblastomycosis and mycetoma by the absence of specific histopathologic findings. (See also Overview of Fungal Infections.
How is Exophiala Dermatitidis treated?
We report the first successful treatment of an infection involving the lungs and central nervous system by a combination of surgical resection of the pulmonary source and medical therapy with amphotericin B, flucytosine or ketoconazole, and transfused white cells, followed by a prolonged course of fluconazole.
Can yeast black?
Black yeasts have been known since the end of the 19th century. The term “black yeasts” indicates those melanized fungi that are able to reproduce in culture by unicellular budding (yeast-like cells) (3, 28).
What fungal infection causes black mucus?
Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is a rare but dangerous infection. It’s caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes and often affects the sinuses, lungs, skin, and brain.
Where is Exophiala Dermatitidis found?
Exophiala dermatitidis (formerly Wangiella dermatitidis) is a dematiaceous fungus that is found in soil and dead plant material worldwide, and sometimes causes phaeohyphomycosis [1]. This fungus plays a significant role as a respiratory pathogen in patients with cystic fibrosis.
How is phaeohyphomycosis transmitted?
Phaeohyphomycosis is caused by darkly pigmented (dematiaceous) fungi that inhabit soil and vegetation and gain access to tissues via traumatic implantation. Dreschlera spicifera and Hormodendrum spp. have been isolated in lesions from horses.
What additional testing would have been performed to confirm the diagnosis of Exophiala Dermatitidis?
dermatitidis can be diagnosed from blood culture samples using MALDI-TOF MS (14). This method is useful for treating the patients with appropriate anti-fungal agents because fungal identification by other methods is often difficult and time-consuming.
How is black fungal infection spreading?
The infection spreads when the body is not strong enough to fight the illness on its own. Mucormycosis is an air borne fungal infection that is naturally present in the air, water and even in food. It can enter the body through fungal spores in the air or more uncommonly, through open wounds and cuts in the body.