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Pathogenic Fungi Disease

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The four most prominent factors that make pathogenic fungi a problem for human health are contributed to fungal characters of adhesion, dimorphism, thermotolerance, and invasion promoting enzymes. All of these factors compound and often incorporate one another to aide in the survival of invasive fungi. Adhesion is a broad category, but due to the variety of entry ways and different sites of attachment fungi can have on a human this gives the potential for high pathogenesis. That is the infection is able to develop because of the different sites available to the fungi as it grows. Other factors that can attribute to the severity of this are things such as suppressed immune systems of the host, type of fungi, and mode of entry/site of entry. Mode of entry is unique because spores of reproducing fungi can be inhaled while other fungal infections may only be contracted through direct contact. With the broad array of niches available to fungi this also expands the possibilities of contact/exposure. For example some fungi are found on food and contact comes through the consumption of this food. Since epidermal infections are often more common, but less pathogenic than internal infections this is often overlooked by medical professionals. …show more content…

Examples of these enzymes are phospholipases and proteinases secreted by Candida fungi. Phospholipases hydrolyze lipids as part of its invasive strategy. Proteinases hydrolyze proteins to gain nutrients. This often is associated with the degree of invasive fungi pathogenesis and virulence (Khan et al. 2010). This factor is incorporated into all of the previously mentioned factors as it promotes growth. Being able to grow and break down compounds for nutrients is vital both in human infection and survival outside of humans where the host may be a plant, different type of organism, or even a soil

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