[2] The organism is endemic to southeast Asia, where it is an important cause of opportunistic infections in those with HIV/AIDS-related immunodeficiency.

[3][4] When it was classified as a Penicillium, it was the only known thermally dimorphic species of that genus that caused a lethal systemic infection (talaromycosis), with fever and anaemia similar to disseminated cryptococcosis.

This contrasted with related Penicillium species that are usually regarded as unimportant in terms of causing human disease.

Talaromyces marneffei is endemic in Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Southern China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Talaromyces marneffei has been found in bamboo rat faeces, liver, lungs and spleen.

One study of 550 AIDS patients showed that the incidence was higher during the rainy season, which is when the rats breed.

But this season also has conditions that are more favorable for production of fungal spores (conidia), which can become airborne and be inhaled by susceptible individuals.

Patients commonly present with symptoms and signs of infection of the reticuloendothelial system, including generalized lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly.

The respiratory system is commonly involved as well; cough, fever, dyspnea, and chest pain may be present, reflecting the probable inhalational route of acquisition.

Growth is initially fluffy and white and eventually turns green and granular after sporulation has occurred.

Under the microscope, the mold phase will look like a typical Penicillium, with hyaline, septate and branched hyphae; the conidiophores are located both laterally and terminally.

Treatment of talaromycosis depends on the degree of immunosuppression and organ involvement, but most isolates of Talaromyces marneffei display low MIC's to amphotericin B as well as itraconazole, posaconazole and voriconazole.

[10] T. marneffei had been assumed to reproduce exclusively by asexual means based on the highly clonal population structure of this species.

The dcl-2 of T. marneffei and its homologue in T. stipitatus are more closely related to those of the thermal dimorphic pathogenic fungi, Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Coccidioides immitis than to P. chrysogenum and Aspergillus spp., suggesting the co-evolution of dcl-2 among the thermal dimorphic fungi.

On the other hand, qde-2 of T. marneffei is most closely related to its homologues in other thermal dimorphic fungi than to that in T. stipitatus, P. chrysogenum and Aspergillus spp.