Editorial: Dermatophytes and Dermatophytoses: A Reappraisal for the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Mycopathologia has a long tradition of publishing important studies on the dermatophytic fungi and dermatophytoses. Nearly 300 articles have appeared in the journal over 60 years starting with the 1939 case report by the pioneering medical mycologist Emmons [1] on simian dermatophytoses due to Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Intermittently, other notable articles focused on the classification, clinical disease, natural history, and geography of this group of pathogenic fungi [2–6]. The two most noteworthy articles among these excellent publications were by Ajello and Georg [7] on in vitro hair perforation test for differentiation of Trichophyton, and by Nishio et al. [8] on the use of mitochondrial DNA analysis for the phylogeny of Trichophyton. These articles have been cited more than 100 times in peer-reviewed publications, and citation records of many other articles are equally impressive. Two of us (JPB and BM) have tried to capture the spirit of this tradition by putting together this special issue on dermatophytic fungi and dermatophytoses with special emphasis on the current state of the art and the future developments in this exciting area of study. We were fortunate to have support of a talented group of experts who contributed 13 leading edge reviews of many pertinent areas. Historically, large numbers of species have been included among dermatophytic fungi that cause human and animal disease. This taxonomy is not without its lively controversies. The opening article by Graser et al. [9] eruditely deals with the species concept in dermatophytes by providing historical context, and merits and de-merits of morphological and molecular classification schemes. They distill their considerable expertise into very useful recommendations for the diagnostic laboratories. In the next article, Degreef [10] brings us up to speed with some excellent descriptions and photographs of various ‘‘Tinea’’ that constitute the clinical classification of dermatophytoses. J. P. Bouchara Guest Editor Host–Pathogen Interaction Study Group, UPRES-EA 3142, Angers University Hospital, Angers, France