Pioneers in Medical Mycology and Mycobacteriology.

F infect ions have been mentioned in ancient scriptures of Hinduism e.g. Atharva Veda and also in the writings of Hippocrates who described mouths affected with aphthous ulcerations which is now recognized as oral thrush. The earliest recognition of fungi as a cause of disease came from discovery of infection in silk worms by “budding globules of vegetable kingdom capable of reproducing themselves ( later identified as Saccharomyces cervicae) by Bassi in 1837. His seminal work inspired many cl inicians to invest igate fungi as e t io logica l agent for human infec t ions . S ince then many dermatologists, surgeons, g y n e c o l o g i s t s , p h y s i c i a n s , botanists, chemists and scientists from various other fields have contr ibuted immensely to the systematic development of medical mycology.