Lacazia loboi [Lah-kah′-zee-uh loh-boy′]

Figure 1

Figure 1. A) Grocott methamine silver–stained section from a skin biopsy specimen of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) showing abundant Lacazia loboiyeast cells individually and in chains connected...

Lobomycosis is the name given to the cutaneous mycosis for which Lacazia loboi is the etiologic agent. L. loboi lives primarily in dense tropical rain forests and the oceans of the Central and South America Coast (Figure 1). Humans and dolphins are the only known hosts for this fungus (1‒4). L. loboi cannot be cultured and is identified by histologic analysis of excised lesions. This uncultivatable characteristic played a role in the convoluted path the fungus has traversed in arriving at the current binomial designation.

The etymologic journey of L. loboi began in 1931 when Brazilian dermatologist Jorge O. Lobo reported a case in a 52-year-old man who had keloid-like lesions over his sacral region (5). Lobo called this novel disease Blastomicose keloidiana, the first misstep in the nomenclatural misadventures. Lobo believed that the fungus was similar to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. Paracoccidioides loboi was proposed by Fonseca and Lacaz in 1971 (6), honoring Lobo with the species name, but inadequate Latin description resulted in rejection. This resemblance with Paracoccidioides caused nearly endless taxonomy problems (7).

Figure 2

Figure 2. A, B) Extensive lobomycosis-like disease on the beak and dorsal fin of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) stranded on Margarita Island, Venezuela. Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases 15 (8),...

Sufficient Latin validation gathered, Lacaz resubmitted an updated proposal in 1996 (8). Lacaz was unable to locate Lobo’s original sample. Taborda and colleagues (9) studied specimens stored in the US National Fungus Collections (10), concluding “no existing genus can accommodate this taxon” (9). In 1999, they advanced Lacazia loboi for validation, heralding Lacaz, an esteemed physician and director of the Tropical Medicine Institute of São Paulo, with the genus designation (Figure 2).

At least 6 genera (Glenosporella, Blastomyces, Glenosporosis, Paracoccidioides, Lobomyces, and Loboa) and 2 species (brasiliensis and amazonica) preceded Lacazia loboi. The repetitive Loboa loboi was proposed in 1956 (5), but deemed “nomem nudum and illegitimate” and incorrectly identified as P. brasiliensis. Herr and colleagues showed that L. loboi is in the sister taxon of P. brasiliensis and confirmed their confusing similarity (11). Vilela and colleagues, using updated phylogenetic DNA data analysis, identified the uncultivable P. ceta, isolated from dolphins, and L. lobo as species that belonged in the genus Paracoccidioides (12).

Because P. loboi had been discarded, Paracoccidioides lobogeorgii (georgii represents an Anglicization of the Spanish Jorge) was submitted as the replacement. For the disease itself, Francesconi and colleagues catalogued 8 monikers and mercifully declared, “Lobomycosis is the correct name for this disease” (13).