Saksenaea

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Saksenaea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
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Genus:
Saksenaea

S.B.Saksena (1953)
Type species
Saksenaea vasiformis
S.B.Saksena (1953)
Species

S. erythrospora
S. vasiformis

Saksenaea is a genus of fungi in the Saksenaeaceae family. First described in 1953, [1] the genus contains two pathogenic species capable of causing severe human infections. [2]

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

The Saksenaeaceae are a family of fungi in the order Mucorales. It was circumscribed in 1974 by J.J. Ellis and Clifford Hesseltine.

In biology, a pathogen is also known as an infectious agent, or a germ. In the oldest and broadest sense, a pathogen is anything that can produce disease; the term came into use in the 1880s. Typically the term pathogen is used to describe an infectious microorganism or agent, such as a virus, bacterium, protozoan, prion, viroid, or fungus. Small animals, such as certain kinds of worms and insect larvae, can also produce disease but such animals are usually, in common parlance, referred to as parasites rather than pathogens. The scientific study of microscopic, pathogenic organisms is called microbiology, while the study of disease that may include these pathogens is called pathology. Parasitology, meanwhile, is the scientific study of parasites and the organisms that host them.

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Spirochaete phylum of Gram-negative bacteria

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Saksenaea vasiformis is an infectious fungus associated with cutaneous or subcutaneous lesions following trauma. It causes opportunistic infections as the entry of the fungus is through open spaces of cutaneous barrier ranging in severity from mild to severe or fatal. It is found in soils worldwide, but is considered as a rare human pathogen since only 38 cases were reported as of 2012. Saksenaea vasiformis usually fails to sporulate on the routine culture media, creating a challenge for early diagnosis, which is essential for a good prognosis. Infections are usually treated using a combination of amphotericin B and surgery. Saksenaea vasiformis is one of the few fungi known to cause necrotizing fasciitis or "flesh-eating disease".

Uncinocarpus reesii species of fungus

Uncinocarpus reesii is a species of saprotrophic microfungi that grows in soil and on keratinous materials such as hair, feathers and skin. It was the first species to be designated as part of the Uncinocarpus genus, owing in part to its characteristic development of hooked (uncinate) appendages. As the closest non-pathogenic relative of Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, it has become a subject of research interest.

References

  1. Saksena SB. (1953). "A new genus of the Mucorales". Mycologia. 45 (3): 426–36. JSTOR   4547711.
  2. Alvarez E; Garcia-Hermoso D; Sutton DA; Cano JF; Stchigel AM; Hoinard D; Fothergill AW; Rinaldi MG; Dromer F; Guarro J. (2010). "Molecular phylogeny and proposal of two new species of the emerging pathogenic fungus Saksenaea". Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 48 (12): 4410–16. doi:10.1128/JCM.01646-10. PMC   3008438 . PMID   20926710.