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Seminars in Respiratory and Critical... Feb 2020Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is one of the most relevant systemic endemic mycoses in Latin American countries, especially in South American countries, with endemic and... (Review)
Review
Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is one of the most relevant systemic endemic mycoses in Latin American countries, especially in South American countries, with endemic and hyperendemic areas. The real burden of PCM may be underestimated because of a lack of compulsory case notification. Recent phylogenetic data revealed that comprises several cryptic species including and . However, the genetic biodiversity of does not affect the clinical manifestations or therapeutic response to therapy. Lung involvement is a common finding, especially in patients experiencing the chronic form of the disease, and, because of its similarities with tuberculosis, clinicians must be alert to the possibility of PCM in patients with chronic respiratory manifestations and epidemiological risk factors for this fungal disease.
Topics: Anti-Infective Agents; Global Health; Humans; Lung Diseases, Fungal; Paracoccidioidomycosis; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 32000284
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-3400544 -
Arquivos de Neuro-psiquiatria Jun 2020
Topics: Hippocampus; Humans; Paracoccidioidomycosis; Sclerosis
PubMed: 32609191
DOI: 10.1590/0004-282X20200015 -
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2021Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis that is endemic in geographical regions of Central and South America. Cases that occur in nonendemic regions of the world... (Review)
Review
Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis that is endemic in geographical regions of Central and South America. Cases that occur in nonendemic regions of the world are imported through migration and travel. Due to the limited number of cases in Europe, most physicians are not familiar with paracoccidioidomycosis and its close clinical and histopathological resemblance to other infectious and noninfectious disease. To increase awareness of this insidious mycosis, we conducted a systematic review to summarize the evidence on cases diagnosed and reported in Europe. We searched PubMed and Embase to identify cases of paracoccidioidomycosis diagnosed in European countries. In addition, we used Scopus for citation tracking and manually screened bibliographies of relevant articles. We conducted dual abstract and full-text screening of references yielded by our searches. To identify publications published prior to 1985, we used the previously published review by Ajello et al. Overall, we identified 83 cases of paracoccidioidomycosis diagnosed in 11 European countries, published in 68 articles. Age of patients ranged from 24 to 77 years; the majority were male. Time from leaving the endemic region and first occurrence of symptoms considerably varied. Our review illustrates the challenges of considering systemic mycosis in the differential diagnosis of people returning or immigrating to Europe from endemic areas. Travel history is important for diagnostic-workup, though it might be difficult to obtain due to possible long latency period of the disease.
PubMed: 33672212
DOI: 10.3390/jof7020157 -
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland) Jan 2017Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic fungal disease occurring in Latin America and more prevalent in South America. The disease is caused by the dimorphic fungus spp.... (Review)
Review
Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic fungal disease occurring in Latin America and more prevalent in South America. The disease is caused by the dimorphic fungus spp. whose major hosts are humans and armadillos. The fungus grows in soil and its infection is associated with exposure to the rural environment and to agricultural activities, with a higher risk in coffee and tobacco plantations. Population studies assessing the reactivity to spp. antigens by intradermal reaction or serological tests have detected previous subclinical infections in a significant proportion of healthy individuals living in various endemic countries. Paracoccidioidomycosis-disease is manifested by a small minority of infected individuals. The risk of developing the disease and its type of clinical form are related to the personal and life style characteristics of infected individuals, including genetic background, age, sex, ethnicity, smoking habit, alcohol drinking, and eventual cellular immunosuppression. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, and Ecuador have endemic areas that had already been defined in the 20th century. The incidence of paracoccidioidomycosis can be altered by climate phenomena and mainly by human migration and occupation of poorly explored territories. In Brazil, the endemy tends to expand towards the North and Center-West around the Amazon Region.
PubMed: 29371520
DOI: 10.3390/jof3010001 -
Virulence Dec 2019This review addresses the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs), which are essential for maintaining peripheral tolerance and controlling pathogen immunity, in the host... (Review)
Review
This review addresses the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs), which are essential for maintaining peripheral tolerance and controlling pathogen immunity, in the host response against , a primary fungal pathogen. A brief introduction on the general features of Treg cells summarizes their main functions, subpopulations, mechanisms of suppression and plasticity. The main aspects of immunity in the diverse forms of the infection are presented, as are the few extant studies on the relevance of Treg cells in the control of severity of the human disease. Finally, the influence of Toll-like receptors, Dectin-1, NOD-like receptor P3 (NLRP3), Myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88), as well as the enzyme indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) on the expansion and function of Treg cells in a murine model of pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is also discussed. It is demonstrated that some of these components are involved in the negative control of Treg cell expansion, whereas others positively trigger the proliferation and activity of these cells. Finally, the studies here summarized highlight the dual role of Treg cells in PCM, which can be protective by controlling excessive immunity and tissue pathology but also deleterious by inhibiting the anti-fungal immunity necessary to control fungal growth and dissemination.
Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Lectins, C-Type; Lung; Mice; Paracoccidioidomycosis; T-Lymphocyte Subsets; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory
PubMed: 30067137
DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2018.1483674 -
Clinical and Vaccine Immunology : CVI Nov 2017Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly conserved biomolecules that are constitutively expressed and generally upregulated in response to various stress conditions (biotic... (Review)
Review
Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly conserved biomolecules that are constitutively expressed and generally upregulated in response to various stress conditions (biotic and abiotic). Hsps have diverse functions, categorizations, and classifications. Their adaptive expression in fungi indicates their significance in these diverse species, particularly in dimorphic pathogens. and species are dimorphic fungi that are the causative agents of histoplasmosis and paracoccidioidomycosis, respectively. This minireview focuses on the pathobiology of Hsps, with particular emphasis on their roles in the morphogenesis and virulence of and and the potential roles of active and passive immunization against Hsps in protection against infection with these fungi.
Topics: Fungal Proteins; Heat-Shock Proteins; Histoplasma; Histoplasmosis; Humans; Immunization, Passive; Immunotherapy; Paracoccidioides; Paracoccidioidomycosis; Vaccination; Virulence
PubMed: 28903987
DOI: 10.1128/CVI.00221-17 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Dec 2017
Topics: Eye Infections, Fungal; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Paracoccidioidomycosis
PubMed: 29187269
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0613 -
Mediators of Inflammation 2017spp. are dimorphic fungal pathogens responsible for one of the most relevant systemic mycoses in Latin America, paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). Their exact ecological... (Review)
Review
spp. are dimorphic fungal pathogens responsible for one of the most relevant systemic mycoses in Latin America, paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). Their exact ecological niche remains unknown; however, they have been isolated from soil samples and armadillos (), which have been proposed as animal reservoir for these fungi. Human infection occurs by inhalation of conidia or mycelia fragments and is mostly associated with immunocompetent hosts inhabiting and/or working in endemic rural areas. In this review focusing on the pathogen perspective, we will discuss some of the microbial attributes and molecular mechanisms that enable spp. to tolerate, adapt, and ultimately avoid the host immune response, establishing infection.
Topics: Animals; Armadillos; CRISPR-Cas Systems; Cell Wall; Environment; Estrogens; Gene Silencing; Humans; Immune Evasion; Melanins; Paracoccidioides; Paracoccidioidomycosis; Pigmentation; Polysaccharides; RNA, Antisense; Soil Microbiology; Spores, Fungal; Virulence Factors
PubMed: 28553014
DOI: 10.1155/2017/5313691 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Sep 2015
Topics: Aged; Colombia; Dermatomycoses; Humans; Male; Paracoccidioides; Paracoccidioidomycosis; Skin
PubMed: 26333727
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.15-0062 -
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2018The thermally-dimorphic systemic fungal group includes several important human pathogens: Blastomyces dermatitides, Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, Histoplasma... (Review)
Review
The thermally-dimorphic systemic fungal group includes several important human pathogens: Blastomyces dermatitides, Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, P. lutzii, and Talaromyces (Penicillium) marneffei. They usually are geographically restricted and have natural habitats in soil or in plants, and when fungal propagules invade mammalian host by inhalation, they initiate an inflammatory reaction that can result in self-resolution of the infection or cause an acute or chronic disease. In the setting of the AIDS pandemic and the developments in modern medicine, such as immunosuppressive therapy in cancer surgery patients and in transplantation and autoimmune diseases, the incidence of endemic mycoses has progressively increased. Another important factor of the increased incidence of systemic mycoses in certain regions is the progressive devastation of tropical and subtropical forests. In this review, we focus on two of the most important systemic mycoses: paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis, and their major characteristics in epidemiology, clinical aspects and laboratorial diagnosis.
Topics: Antifungal Agents; Histoplasma; Histoplasmosis; Humans; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Paracoccidioides; Paracoccidioidomycosis
PubMed: 30277157
DOI: 10.2174/1568026618666181002112231