124 STUDY AND IDENTIFICATION OF MOULDS 



shows a network of mycelium with bulbous thread-like rays going to the periphery. 

 The "clubs " at the periphery are degenerate structures and do not stain by Gram. 

 The central mycelium is Gram positive. This mould is essentially an anaerobe 

 and should be cultivated in a deep glucose agar stab. It may also be cultivated 

 in bouillon. In this it grows at bottom. Growth is dry and chalky. In diagnosis 

 look for the little granules. Curetting of the sinuses may give the "ray fungus" 

 when they are not found free in the pus. 



Discomyces madurae. This is a ray fungus found in the yellow "fish-roe" granules 

 of madura foot. It is strictly aerobic in cultures, thus differing from actinomy- 

 cosis. For diagnosis proceed as for D. bo vis. 



Madurella mycetomi. This is the cause of the black "gunpowder" granules of 

 madura foot. It is a mycelial mass with rather oval shaped swollen segments. 

 It is at times cultivable on potato and agar as felted masses of gray growth, which 

 later become almost black. 



Malassezia furfur. This is the fungus of tinea versicolor. It is common both in 

 temperate and in tropical climates. It is characterized by dirty yellow spots 

 about covered parts of the body. Scrapings show a profusion of mycelial threads 

 and interspersed spores. It is very difficult to cultivate. The organism usually 

 termed the bottle bacillus is really a fungus having the characteristics of the 

 genus Malassezia. It is thought to be the cause of pityriasis of the scalp. 

 Microsporoides minutissimus. This is generally considered as the cause of Ery- 

 thrasma or dhobie itch, a very common intertrigo of the tropics. It is character- 

 jzed by its narrow mycelium and small spores. Various fungi are found in this 

 affection. Castellani considers the chief cause of dhobie itch to be a trichophyton, 

 T. cruris. 



Clinically this affection shows festooned areas of a bright red color which tend 

 to clear up in the center becoming fawn color. As a result of the intolerable itching 

 and scratching the affection tends to spread from its favorite sites the inner sur- 

 faces of the thighs and the scrotum. The spores and mycelium are abundant at 

 the onset but later, one may not find any evidence of the mould. In some of the 

 rapidly spreading cases I have found a symbiosis of fungus and coccus, the bacterial 

 elements lying packed in aggregations scattered through the mycelial ground work. 



Culturally these cocci were S. pyogenes aureus. 



Trichosporum giganteum. This is the cause of a disease of the hairs, known in 

 Columbia as "Piedra," so called from the small gritty-like masses along the 

 length of the hair. These spores are arranged like mosaics about the hair. 

 Sporotrichum beurmanni. This fungus has a narrow mycelium (2/0 and branches 

 in all directions. The spores appear as little grape-like clusters of oval spores 

 (3 to 5ju) at the end of a filament. It is readily cultivated, showing as a small 

 white growth about the eighth day. 



The fungus of Sporotrichosis develops in tissue by budding, not showing the 

 mycelial growth seen in artificial cultures. Potato makes a good medium and often 

 such cultures show pigmentation. 



This mould produces indolent, glistening, subcutaneous tumors which are pain- 

 less. They may ulcerate and give off a brownish discharge. They resemble tuber- 

 culous or syphilitic lesions. 



Certain organisms which resemble both moulds and bacteria, having branching 



