Exophiala dermatitidis
species of fungus
Exophiala dermatitidis is a thermophilic black yeast, and a member of the Herpotrichiellaceae. While the species is only found at low abundance in nature, metabolically active strains are commonly isolated in saunas, steam baths, and dish washers. Exophiala dermatitidis only rarely causes infection in humans, however cases have been reported around the world. In East Asia, the species has caused lethal brain infections in young and otherwise healthy individuals. The fungus has been known to cause cutaneous and subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis, and as a lung colonist in people with cystic fibrosis in Europe. In 2002, an outbreak of systemic E. dermatitidis infection occurred in women who had received contaminated steroid injections at North Carolina hospitals.
Appearance and general description
Exophiala dermatitidis forms slow growing, brown or black colonies. As is common amongst black yeasts, E. dermatitidis is an anamorphic fungus with multiple conidial forms. This morphological plasticity has complicated taxonomic determination based solely on physical appearance. Young colonies are described as waxy, mucoid, smooth, and yeastlike.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Exophiala dermatitidis” is species of fungus. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Exophiala, dermatitidis and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5420632. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2002.
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This entry incorporates text from “Exophiala dermatitidis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.