Sporotrichosis: Part I

Sporotrichosis is the most common subcutaneous mycosis in South America. Classic infection is associated with traumatic inoculation of soil, vegetables, and organic material contaminated with Sporothix schenckii. Animals of various species, including humans, are affected by this disease. This subcutaneous mycosis is an infection of implantation. The most frequent clinical form is the lymphocutaneous form. The fixed cutaneous form is characterized by infiltrated nodular, ulcerated, or erythematosquamous lesions located on exposed areas where fungal inoculation occurred. The disseminated cutaneous forms have mainly been observed among immunosuppressed patients, especially human immunodeficiency virus-positive individuals. Sporotrichosis is the only subcutaneous mycosis for which direct examination or histology is of little or no value for diagnosis. The diagnosis rests solely on the isolation of S schenckii in culture. Since 1998, researchers from Brazil suggested that feline transmission of sporotrichosis was associated with a large and long-lasting outbreak of the disease in the city of Rio de Janeiro.