EVALUATION OF FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE EXTERNAL AUDITORY CANAL

Abstract

ALTHOUGH medical mycology preceded bacteriology by many years, there remains considerable misunderstanding concerning fungi and their relationship to man. This is particularly true about fungous disease of the external auditory canal. In the past decade considerable effort has been devoted to clarifying many of the aspects of this disease, but much work remains to be done. HISTORICAL REVIEW Mycetes have been studied for nearly three hundred years. In 1677 Hooke, with the aid of a magnifying lens, first discovered that the yellow spots on roses were living organisms. Micheli classified aspergilli as a genus of molds in 1729. In 1839 Langenbeck discovered that thrush was caused by a fungus. In the same year Schoenlein described the fungus causing favus. During the next thirty years the study of mycology flourished with the work on tinea circinata by Gruby in 1842, tinea versicolor by Eichstedt in 1846 and tinea pedis by Fox