[Gilchrist's disease and fungal taxonomy: a thorny problem]

The study of iconographical data and of six american and african strains of B. dermatitidis allows us to conclude that there are several discriminating characters between the members of the Blastomyces dermatitidis complex. The african strains are distinguished by the lack of sexual forms and old strains show the lost of the M lead to Y conversion. An identical character prevails among the strains of the two continents: tuberculate conidia which are obtained on corn meal agar. The authors are insisting on the identical characters encountered on Blastomyces and Histoplasma. All the mycotic strains described from cases of Gilchrist disease possess a Chrysosporium period. The experimental Gilchrist disease performed on rodents is more often obtained with members of the genus Chrysosporium.