Biohazards Caused by Imported Fungi

Abstract

Imported mycoses are defined as diseases caused by fungi with strong virulence which do not exist in nature in Japan. There are five imported mycoses in Japan: coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, paracoccidioidomycosis and penicilliosis marneffei.
Among the causative agents of these mycoses, Coccidioides immitis is the most dangerous. It is classified as “class 3b” in the classification of etiologic agents categorized by degrees of hazard. Identification of C. immitis isolated from a patient is therefore very dangerous.
I describe here how to handle this hazadous fungus.