Mycotic Infections in Otolaryngology

Abstract

Mycotic infections have been reported as more prevalent since the antibiotic era began. Three fatal cases of monilial infections were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 16, 1953. These were associated with the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. The importance of these and other reports of the increasing frequency of fungus infections appearing while antibiotics were being given has been rather generally accepted. There are some 50 fungi that are recognized as pathogenic in man. The greatest obstacle to the clinical study of mycotic infections is confusion that exists in medical literature regarding the classification and identification of true fungi. Recent knowledge of the epidemiology and immunology has been introduced, and the complete disease spectrum as it occurs in the human being has been clarified. The complex nature of mycology resulted in nomenclature hard to understand and classify; however, new techniques for culturing and identifying the