Mammalian Sporothrix infections in southern Africa : researches on their development, dynamics and control

English: In the historical introduction of this manuscript, a worldwide literature review, regarding aspects of mammalian Sporothrix infections, is given. A research programme concentrating on the epidemiology, morphology and ecology of Sporothrix schenckii in the Transvaal, is presented. s Two epidemiological forms of human sporotrichosis extt in the aforementioned province. One type is due to an infection acquired from a source in nature (soil, plants and decaying vegetation), and the other type was found in the Witwatersrand gold mines due to fungal proliferation on the timber props underground, where the disease took on epidemiologic proportions in the early part of the century. Changes in the mining methods have almost eliminated the problem in the latter environment. outbreaks do however still occur. Sporadic cases and small Pathogenic S. schenckii strains derived from human and animal disease could be converted on moist wood to produce triangular and pigmented conidia, similar to those seen in the gold mine isolates. Pigmented conidia proved to be more viable than unpigmented ones, and pigment production was found to be potentially present in all conidium types. The larger numbers of conidia produced in pigmented strains are indicative of higher infectivity rather than increased pathogenicity or virulence. Larger conidium volumes were unrelated to genetic material but were due to an increased cytoplasmic content and cell wall thickening in the older conidia, as confirmed by fluorescent nuclear DNA staining and electron microscopy. Results of this study suggest that S. schenckii possesses an intrinsic polymorphism, as the two types of pathogenic strains could be interconverted solely by altering the nutritional conditions. This study also describes the occurrence of S. schenckii infections in animals and reports on the successful treatment of the disease with two new drugs.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Pretoria

Year dc:date.issued

1992

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Eicker, A.

• UCTD
• Sporothrix schenckii
• human sporotrichosis
• Witwatersrand gold mines

Statement dc:rights

• © 2021 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86470

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/86470