198 INFECTIONS CAUSED BY MOLDS 



Geographic Distribution. The disease, first recognized in this 

 country by Schenck," and shortly afterwards in France by de Beur- 

 mann,^ has since been found in all parts of the world. The great 

 majority of the reported cases have occurred in France, the United 

 States, and South America. There is some evidence of a limited 

 geographical distribution. Thus Ruediger ^° found five sixths of the 

 cases reported in America by 1912 had occurred in the valley of the 

 Missouri River. According to Foerster ^ (1926) 130 out of 148 cases 

 reported in the United States were in the valleys of the Mississippi 

 or its tributaries, and a large proportion of these in the Missouri 

 Valley. Meyer also found that outside of Pennsylvania most of 

 the cases of equine sporotrichosis occurred in the Missouri Valley. 



This geographical distribution may be due to a greater prevalence 

 of the parasite in this region; to a larger proportion of the popula- 

 tion (agricultural) being engaged in occupations which expose them 

 to infection; or (and this seems the more likely) to the fact that 

 the medical profession in these districts have been on the lookout 

 for such cases. In recent years more and more cases have been re- 

 ported from other parts of the world. This increasing number of 

 cases reported is also probably due to an increased alertness of the 

 medical profession rather than an actually greater prevalence of the 

 disease. 



Habitat in Nature. The infection may occur in various ways, but 

 in a large proportion of cases it is clear that the fungus has been 

 introduced into the tissues from or on vegetable matter of one sort 

 or another. Thus Foerster ^ noted that 14 of his 18 cases followed 

 wounds of the upper extremities by barberry thorns. The fungus 

 has been found growing free in nature upon a grain by Sartory; it 

 has been isolated at the National Institute of Health from sphagnum 

 moss, which was responsible for several cases among florists; Lurie 

 isolated it from the timbers of a gold mine in South Africa and from 

 miners exposed to that source; and from the histories of numerous 

 cases, we must assume that it is a fairly common saprophyte upon 

 vegetable matter and in soil. Many cases have occurred in farmers, 

 in some cases following wounds caused by agricultural implements. 



Benham and Kesten ^ demonstrated the saprophytic growth of 

 Sporotrichu7n Schenckii on experimentally inoculated barberry thorns 

 and in the buds of carnations. They refer to the latter as the trans- 

 mission of sporotrichosis to plants, but it is doubtful if that inter- 

 pretation of the results is justified. Spores of S. Schenckii, S. Poae 

 (a pathogen of carnations), S. pruinosum (a saprophyte), S. Gouger- 

 oti, S. Councilmani, and Penicillium brevi-compactum, and sterile 



