An old confusion: Entomophthoromycosis versus mucormycosis and their main differences

Jaime David Acosta-España; Kerstin Voigt

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1035100

An old confusion: Entomophthoromycosis versus mucormycosis and their main differences

Front Microbiol. 2022 Nov 3:13:1035100. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1035100. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jaime David Acosta-España^{1

2

3}, Kerstin Voigt^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Jena Microbial Resource Collection, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany.
² Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
³ Postgraduate Program in Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.

Abstract

Fungal diseases were underestimated for many years. And the global burden of fungal infections is substantial and has increased in recent years. Invasive fungal infections have been linked to several risk factors in humans which basically depend on the individual homeostasis of the patients. However, many fungi can infect even apparently healthy people. Knowledge of these pathogens is critical in reducing or stopping morbidity and/or mortality statistics due to fungal pathogens. Successful therapeutic strategies rely on rapid diagnosis of the causative fungal agent and the underlying disease. However, the terminology of the diseases was updated to existing phylogenetic classifications and led to confusion in the definition of mucormycosis, conidiobolomycosis, and basidiobolomycosis, which were previously grouped under the now-uncommon term zygomycosis. Therefore, the ecological, taxonomic, clinical, and diagnostic differences are addressed to optimize the understanding and definition of these diseases. The term "coenocytic hyphomycosis" is proposed to summarize all fungal infections caused by Mucorales and species of Basidiobolus and Conidiobolus.

Keywords: basidiobolomycosis; conidiobolomycosis; entomophthoramycosis; mucoralomycosis; phycomycosis; zygomycosis.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) CRC/Transregio 124 Pathogenic fungi and their human host: Networks of interaction (FungiNet), DFG project number 210879364, subproject A6 (to KV). The Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology Jena – Hans Knöll Institute, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. This study is part of the Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC), a structured Ph.D. graduate school.