Four fungi causing subcutaneous mycosis (infections involving the dermis, subcutaneous tissue, and sometimes underlying muscle/bone, typically acquired via traumatic inoculation, e.g., a thorn prick, rather than inhalation):
Sporothrix schenckii — causes sporotrichosis (“rose gardener’s disease”), classically via thorn/plant material inoculation, producing lymphocutaneous nodular spread.
Madurella mycetomatis (and other agents of eumycetoma) — causes eumycetoma (Madura foot), presenting with tumefaction, sinus tracts, and characteristic grains.
Basidiobolus ranarum — causes subcutaneous zygomycosis (basidiobolomycosis), presenting as a firm, slowly enlarging subcutaneous swelling, typically on the limbs, particularly in children in tropical regions.
Chromoblastomycosis agents (e.g., Fonsecaea pedrosii, Cladophialophora carrionii) — cause chromoblastomycosis, a chronic, verrucous/cauliflower-like skin lesion, characterized histologically by pathognomonic copper-coloured sclerotic (Medlar) bodies.
(Other valid examples: Rhinosporidium seeberi — rhinosporidiosis, though primarily mucosal rather than subcutaneous; various agents of actinomycetoma, though these are bacterial rather than fungal.)
