Introduction
Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is an endemic/enzootic mycosis acquired by airborne inhalation of infective conidia of Paracoccidioides spp. present in the environment (Brummer et al.
1993; Bocca et al. 2013). Once inhaled, the fungus may spread by the lymphatic-hematogenic route to other tissues. Described in 1908 by Adolfo Lutz in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, PCM was believed to be caused by a single agent, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Lutz 1908; Splendore 1912; Almeida 1930). A new species, Paracoccidioides lutzii, was recently described as an additional etiological agent of PCM. This has affected epidemiological, clinical, and diagnostic approaches (Teixeira et al. 2014a, b). PCM is the major systemic mycosis in Latin American countries and ranks eighth among causes of human death from infectious and parasitic diseases in Brazil (Coutinho et al. 2002, 2015). While the immunological and clinical aspects of PCM are relatively well studied in humans, little is known about the ecology of the fungus and the role of nonhuman hosts.6.2
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