Fungal Diseases In Animals

The importance of fungal infections in both human and animals has increased over the last few decades. This book presents an overview of the different categories of fungal infections that can be encountered in animals (including lower vertebrates) originating from environmental sources with or without transmission to humans. In addition, the endemic infections with indirect transmission from the environment, the zoophilic fungal pathogens with near-direct transmission, the zoonotic fungi that can be directly transmitted from animals to humans, mycotoxicoses and antifungal resistance in animals will also be discussed. This book includes case studies and reviews the current state of knowledge on the mechanism of fungal attraction, recognition, infection, extracellular hydrolytic enzymes and pathogenesis of nematophagous fungi. The book also covers diagnostics, fungal formulations, as well as prevention methods. It discusses strategies to access the fungal pathogen groups, metagenomic analyses, genomics, secretomics, metabolomics, proteomics and transcriptomics. In addition, pathogen description, understanding, distribution and recent research results are provided.

This book provides in-depth insights into epidemic and emerging mycoses in various animal groups. The different categories of pathogens and outbreak fungi are discussed. In an introductory chapter, the reader will be provided basic information on fungal infections that are non-transmissible, infections from a common environmental source known as sapronoses, and zoophilic fungal pathogens in various animal species and populations, worldwide Chapter 2 details the vocabulary and terminology that is required in the scientific literature in order to maintain clarity of expression to the field of Mycology. Chapters 3 to 9 discuss epidemic mycoses with a reservoir in animals and occasional outbreaks, including dermatophytoses, coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, adiaspiromycosis and similar diseases, blastomycosis, and paracoccidioidomycosis ceti (lacaziosis/lobomycosis). Chapters 10 to 15 comprise emerging mycoses in animals that include feline sporotrichosis, lethargic crab disease, emergence of C. gattii in animals and zoonotic potential, white-nose syndrome in hibernating bats, chytridiomycosis in frogs and salamanders and aspergillosis in cats. The last chapter is about treatment possibilities, antifungal use in veterinary practice, and emergence of resistance. The book will address medical and veterinary mycologists, microbiologists, veterinarians, infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, ecologists, public health scientists from academia and industry as well as graduate students, PhD students and postdocs in the field.

Fungal diseases have contributed to death and disability in humans, triggered global wildlife extinctions and population declines, devastated agricultural crops, and altered forest ecosystem dynamics. Despite the extensive influence of fungi on health and economic well-being, the threats posed by emerging fungal pathogens to life on Earth are often underappreciated and poorly understood. On December 14 and 15, 2010, the IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the scientific and policy dimensions associated with the causes and consequences of emerging fungal diseases.

Fungal growths affect both human and animal well-being. Many natural pathogens of laboratory animals alter host physiology, rendering the host unsuitable for experimental uses. While the number and prevalence of few pathogens have declined considerably, many still turn up in laboratory animals and represent unwanted variables in research. Investigators using laboratory animals in biomedical experimentation should be aware of the profound effects that many of these agents can have on research. What does the future hold regarding the natural pathogens of laboratory animals? The selection of an animal model must carefully address issues of the type of human disease to mimic, the parameters to follow, and the collection of the appropriate data to answer those questions being asked. Overall, animal models of fungal infection will continue to deepen our understanding of how these infections occur. This book provides a valuable source of information to biological and biomedical scientists and to clinical and doctoral researchers working in the area of fungal infections and diseases of laboratory animal species.

Fungal pathogens pose an on-going and serious threat for poikilotherms and homeotherms, and can cause a broad spectrum of diseases ranging from innocuous to life-threatening. In addition, long-term exposure to some mycotoxigenic moulds can lead to mycotoxicoses in human and animals. Given the expanding population of immune compromised hosts, the list of fungal opportunists grows longer every year. Moreover, antifungal resistance, drug-related toxicity and our limited arsenal of antifungals have exacerbated the situation. To address these problems, strategies such as the identification of novel targets, use of the structure-activity relationship in rational drug design, development of new formulations, modification of existing antifungals to combat resistance, and bioavailability enhancement are called for. For the reader’s convenience, this book has been divided into three sections. The first six chapters of Section I provide a timely review of mycoses, from endemic to cosmopolitan and from generalized to specific, while both chapters of Section II focus on risks associated with mycotoxins. In closing, the two chapters of Section III describe potential antifungal leads and drug candidates based on phytochemicals and coumarin scaffold.

This book is a comprehensive overview of the fungi that are clinically relevant for animals and humans. It is divided in three major parts: the first part comprises the history of veterinary and medical mycology, general aspects of morphology, growth, nutrition, reproduction and classification of fungi. In the second part, the etiologic agents of cutaneous, subcutaneous and systemic mycoses are described in detail with special emphasis on emerging and uncommon pathogenic fungi. Each chapter consists of a brief history and the morphology, classification, reproduction, susceptibility to disinfectants, natural habitat, distribution, genome, isolation, growth and colony characteristics, antigenic characteristics, virulence factors. The major diseases and their routes of transmission, pathogenesis, immunity, diagnosis and treatment are also covered. The third part focuses on laboratory diagnosis including clinical sample collection, their processing for fungal isolation, special stains for microscopic visualization, culture media composition and a relevant glossary. Each chapter includes color photographs, schematic diagrams and tables for better understanding.

Fungal growths affect both human and animal well-being. Many natural pathogens of laboratory animals alter host physiology, rendering the host unsuitable for experimental uses. While the number and prevalence of few pathogens have declined considerably, many still turn up in laboratory animals and represent unwanted variables in research. Investigators using laboratory animals in biomedical experimentation should be aware of the profound effects that many of these agents can have on research. What does the future hold regarding the natural pathogens of laboratory animals? The selection of an animal model must carefully address issues of the type of human disease to mimic, the parameters to follow, and the collection of the appropriate data to answer those questions being asked. Overall, animal models of fungal infection will continue to deepen our understanding of how these infections occur. This book provides a valuable source of information to biological and biomedical scientists and to clinical and doctoral researchers working in the area of fungal infections and diseases of laboratory animal species.

While diseases of free-ranging and captive mammalian and avian wildlife species have received considerable interest in the past 25 years, those of amphibians and reptiles (collectively, the herptiles) generally have been assigned lesser importance. The literature concern ing disease in herptiles is widely scattered, consisting chiefly of case reports and prevalence surveys, and with heavy emphasis on captive reptiles. The dynamics of the host-agent-environment relationship have been studied for only a few diseases. This diverse data base is primarily a function of the paucity of investigators whose chief interest is in diseases of herptiles. This first edition represents an effort to bring together some of the diffuse knowledge on infectious and non-infectious diseases of free-ranging and captive herp tiles. Issue may be taken with the choice of topics; how ever, predominant diseases, as well as some diseases of lesser prominence, are presented. The editors were forced to accept certain omissions, particularly with amphibian diseases, simply for lack of contributors. The resulting text, however, we hope will be of value to veterinarians, herpetolo,gists, wildlife disease investigators, wildlife managers, zoo curators, and university students. G.L. Hoff F.L. Frye E.R. Jacobson v CONTENTS Mycobacteriosis 1 D.G. Brownstein Pasteurella in Reptiles 25 K.P. Snipes Pseudomonas 37 E.R. Jacobson Areomonas 49 E.B. Shotts, Jr.