Fungal infection

[7] Subcutaneous types include eumycetoma and chromoblastomycosis, which generally affect tissues in and beneath the skin.

[1][7] Systemic fungal infections are more serious and include cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, pneumocystis pneumonia, aspergillosis and mucormycosis.

[3] The yeast Candida albicans can live in people without producing symptoms, and is able to cause both superficial mild candidiasis in healthy people, such as oral thrush or vaginal yeast infection, and severe systemic candidiasis in those who cannot fight infection themselves.

[3] Diagnosis is generally based on signs and symptoms, microscopy, culture, sometimes requiring a biopsy and the aid of medical imaging.

[7] Treatment is generally performed using antifungal medicines, usually in the form of a cream or by mouth or injection, depending on the specific infection and its extent.

[17] Mycoses are traditionally divided into superficial, subcutaneous, or systemic, where infection is deep, more widespread and involving internal body organs.

[18] Some types such as blastomycosis, cryptococcus, coccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis, affect people who live in or visit certain parts of the world.

[18] Others such as aspergillosis, pneumocystis pneumonia, candidiasis, mucormycosis and talaromycosis, tend to affect people who are unable to fight infection themselves.

Examples of immunocompromised conditions include AIDS, alteration of normal flora by antibiotics, immunosuppressive therapy, and metastatic cancer.

[3] Candida albicans is the most common cause of fungal infection in people, particularly as oral or vaginal thrush, often following taking antibiotics.

[10][27] Fungal infections occur after spores are either breathed in, come into contact with skin or enter the body through a wound.

[3] Diagnosis is generally by signs and symptoms, microscopy, biopsy, culture and sometimes with the aid of medical imaging.

[7] Some fungal infections such as coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis can present with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, thereby resembling COVID-19.

[28] Keeping the skin clean and dry, as well as maintaining good hygiene, will help larger topical mycoses.

[33] The Hungarian microscopist based in Paris David Gruby first reported that human disease could be caused by fungi in the early 1840s.

Workup algorithm of fungal infection at a microbiology lab at a New England community hospital.