The taxonomic status of Lacazia loboi and Rhinosporidium seeberi has been finally resolved with the use of molecular tools.

©2001 Revista Iberoamericana de Micología Apdo. 699, E-48080 Bilbao (Spain) 1130-1406/01/10.00 Euros The etiologic agents of lobomycosis and rhinosporidiosis, Lacazia loboi and Rhinosporidium seeberi respectively, have long been confined in a taxonomic limbo. Although their invasive cells in the tissues of infected humans and other animals are abundant and readily detectable histologically, they have been intractable to isolation and culture. Thus, it has not been possible to objectively place them in any of the kingdoms in which all living entities are classified. In addition to their uncultivatable status, L. loboi and R. seeberi shared in common morphological features that resemble those of certain pathogenic fungi and protozoans: viz. essentially similar inflammatory host reactions, unresponsiveness to antifungal drugs and a long history of taxonomic uncertainty. In general, these two uncultivated enigmatic pathogens cause cutaneous and subcutaneous infections and rarely have been known to cause deepseated systemic infections. R. seeberi is known to infect not only humans but, a large variety of domestic and wild animals in all the continents except Australia. In contrast, L. loboi has been found to infect humans only in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina and two species of dolphins off the coasts of Surinam and Brazil, both coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas.