title: Lobomycosis: an emerging disease in humans and delphinidae.
abstract: Lobomycosis, a disease caused by the uncultivable dimorphic onygenale fungi Lacazia loboi, remains to date as an enigmatic illness, both due to the impossibility of its aetiological agent to be cultured and grown in vitro, as well as because of its unresponsiveness to specific antifungal treatments. It was first described in the 1930s by Brazilian dermatologist Jorge Lobo and is known to cause cutaneous and subcutaneous localised and widespread infections in humans and dolphins. Soil and vegetation are believed to be the chief habitat of the fungus, however, increasing reports in marine mammals has shifted the attention to the aquatic environment. Infection in humans has also been associated with proximity to water, raising the hypothesis that L. loboi may be a hydrophilic microorganism that penetrates the skin by trauma. Although its occurrence was once thought to be restricted to New World tropical countries, its recent description in African patients has wrecked this belief. Antifungals noted to be effective in the empirical management of other cutaneous/subcutaneous mycoses have proven unsuccessful and unfortunately, no satisfactory therapeutic approach for this cutaneous infection currently exists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Tufts Medical Center and Miraca Life Sciences, Boston, MA 02111, USA. albertopaniz@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paniz-Mondolfi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Talhari
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sander Hoffmann
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talhari
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bermudez-Villapol
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Perez
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Van Bressem
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004289:Dolphins / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D060368:Lobomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary