Subcutaneous Fungi

Subcutaneous Fungi

Assignment of fungal organisms to the category of subcutaneous fungi is somewhat arbitrary, because fungal pathogens can produce many subcutaneous manifestations as part of their disease spectrum. Those considered here are introduced traumatically through the skin and involve mainly subcutaneous tissues, lymphatic vessels, and contiguous tissues. They rarely spread to distant organs. The diseases they cause include sporotrichosis, hromoblastomycosis, and mycetoma. Only sporotrichosis has a single specific etiologic agent, Sporothrix schenckii. Chromoblastomycosis and mycetoma are clinical syndromes with multiple fungal etiologies.