Pseudallescheria boydii

Pseudallescheria boydii
Crushed cleistothecium of Pseudallescheria boydii mounted in Melzer's reagent, showing dextrinoid reaction of ascospores
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Sordariomycetes
Order: Microascales
Family: Microascaceae
Genus: Pseudallescheria
Species:
P. boydii
Binomial name
Pseudallescheria boydii
(Shear) McGinnis, A.A.Padhye & Ajello (1982)
Synonyms
  • Allescheria boydii Shear (1922)
  • Petriellidium boydii (Shear) Malloch (1970)
  • Verticillium graphii Harz & Bezold (1889)
  • Sporocybe chartoikoon Beij. (1913)
  • Acladium castellanii Pinoy (1916)
  • Pseudallescheria shearii Negroni & I.Fisch. (1944)
  • Scedosporium boydii

Pseudallescheria boydii is a species of fungus classified in the Ascomycota. It is associated with some forms of eumycetoma/maduromycosis and is the causative agent of pseudallescheriasis. Typically found in stagnant and polluted water, it has been implicated in the infection of immunocompromised and near-drowned pneumonia patients. Treatment of infections with P. boydii is complicated by resistance to many of the standard antifungal agents normally used to treat infections by filamentous fungi.

Fungal pneumonia caused by this mold was the cause of death in three athletes submerged in the Yarkon River after a bridge collapsed during the 1997 Maccabiah Games.