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Tiny keratotic brown lesions on the interdigital web between the toes of a healthy man caused by Curvularia species infection and a review of cutaneous Curvularia infections

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Mycoscience

Abstract

A 74-year-old healthy Japanese man had noticed an itchy lesion with two tiny thick brown scales on the fourth interdigital web of his right foot 3 months earlier. The brown fungus isolated from the scales had demonstrated brown, ellipsoidal, obovoid or clavate, 3-septate conidia. Morphologically, the fungus was identified as Curvularia sp., and was differentiated from other human pathogenic species of the genus, such as C. lunata, C. pallescens, C. trifolii, C. clavata, and C. brachyspora, by molecular analysis based on the DNA sequence data. The fungus grows well on keratotic materials (hairs, nails, and callus), which indicates that it might have the ability to infect the skin surface.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Dr. M. Tuda (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University, Japan) for his valuable comments on the morphological identification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Shinseikai Toyama Hospital, 89-10 Shimowaka, Imizu, 939-0243, Japan

    Makoto Yanagihara, Nobuyuki Tachikawa & Hiroyoshi Hanakawa

  2. Department of Dermatology, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan

    Masako Kawasaki, Kazushi Anzawa & Takashi Mochizuki

  3. Division of Dermatomycology, Research Center for Medical Science, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan

    Masako Kawasaki, Hiroshi Ishizaki, Kazushi Anzawa & Takashi Mochizuki

  4. Tama Laboratory, Japan Food Research Laboratories, 6-11-10 Nagayama, Tama, Tokyo, 206-0025, Japan

    Shun-ichi Udagawa

  5. Faculty of Engineering, Toyama Prefectural University, Imizu, Toyama, 939-0398, Japan

    Yukio Sato

Authors
  1. Makoto Yanagihara
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  2. Masako Kawasaki
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  3. Hiroshi Ishizaki
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  4. Kazushi Anzawa
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  5. Shun-ichi Udagawa
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  6. Takashi Mochizuki
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  7. Yukio Sato
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  8. Nobuyuki Tachikawa
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  9. Hiroyoshi Hanakawa
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Correspondence to Makoto Yanagihara.

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Yanagihara, M., Kawasaki, M., Ishizaki, H. et al. Tiny keratotic brown lesions on the interdigital web between the toes of a healthy man caused by Curvularia species infection and a review of cutaneous Curvularia infections. Mycoscience 51, 224–233 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10267-009-0030-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10267-009-0030-2

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