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Talaromyces marneffei, formerly called Penicillium marneffei, [1] was identified in 1956. [2] The organism is endemic to southeast Asia, where it is an important cause of opportunistic infections in those with HIV/AIDS -related immunodeficiency.
T. marneffei was first isolated from a bamboo rat in Vietnam in 1956. [6] Three years later, it was described by Gabriel Segretain as a new species with disease potential. [ 6 ] The first natural human case of talaromycosis was reported in 1973 in an American minister with Hodgkin's disease who lived in Southeast Asia.
The bamboo rats are the natural hosts for the disease-causing mold, Talaromyces marneffei, which is endemic in all species in Southeast Asia. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In this area, talaromycosis due to the mold is the third most common opportunistic infection in HIV-positive individuals .
Talaromyces is a genus of fungi in the family Trichocomaceae.Described in 1955 by American mycologist Chester Ray Benjamin, species in the genus form soft, cottony fruit bodies with cell walls made of tightly interwoven hyphae.
The species is a natural host for the disease-causing mold, Penicillium marneffei. [2] [3] It is one of several species of large rats that have been identified by scholars of Sherlockiana as the original model for the mysterious Giant Rat of Sumatra alluded to in a fictional story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. [4] [better source needed]
An example is Talaromyces marneffei, [3] a human pathogen that grows as a mold at room temperature, and as a yeast at human body temperature. The term dimorphic is commonly used for fungi that can grow both as yeast and filamentous cells, however many of these dimorphic fungi actually can grow in more than these two forms.
Examples of heterothallism are included for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium marneffei and Neurospora crassa. The heterothallic life cycle of N. crassa is given in some detail, since similar life cycles are present in other heterothallic fungi.
Talaromycosis due to Talaromyces marneffei is now the third most common opportunistic infection (after extrapulmonary tuberculosis and cryptococcosis) in HIV-positive individuals within the endemic area of Southeast Asia. [36] An infection that often goes unrecognized in people with AIDS is Parvovirus B19.