Timeline of mycology

This is a timeline of mycology, tracing medical mycology from ancient descriptions of thrush through the germ theory era, the discovery of major fungal pathogens and antifungal drugs, the HIV/AIDS-driven rise of opportunistic mycoses, molecular taxonomy, emerging drug-resistant species, and the WHO's 2022 recognition of fungal disease as a global health priority..

Sample questions

The following are some interesting questions that can be answered by reading this timeline:

• When and where was the first fungal disease proven to be caused by a microorganism, and how did this influence the germ theory of disease?
• Which Argentine scientists made foundational contributions to medical mycology, and in which diseases?
• What was the first antifungal agent safe for human use, who discovered it, and what did the discoverers do with the patent royalties?
• How did the HIV/AIDS epidemic transform the epidemiology and clinical significance of fungal infections?
• Which fungal disease was mistakenly classified as a protozoan infection on multiple independent occasions, and why?
• When did medical mycology become formally established as an international discipline, and who were its founding figures?
• What role did zoonotic transmission play in the history of sporotrichosis, and which outbreak best illustrates it?
• How has the geographic range of pathogenic fungi expanded over time, and what environmental and clinical factors have driven this expansion?
• When did antifungal resistance first emerge as a clinical problem, and which resistance mechanisms have proven most threatening?
• Which fungal pathogen emerged simultaneously on multiple continents in the 21st century, and why does this make it particularly dangerous?
• How did the COVID-19 pandemic interact with pre-existing risk factors to produce an unprecedented epidemic of a rare fungal infection?
• What was the significance of the 2022 WHO Fungal Priority Pathogens List, and which pathogens did it classify as critical priority?
• How has molecular biology changed the way fungi are identified and classified in clinical settings?
• Which South American country has contributed the most to the history of medical mycology, and through which diseases and researchers?

Big picture

Time period	Development summary	More details
Pre-19th century	Early observations without etiological understanding	Fungal diseases such as oral thrush and tinea are observed and named in antiquity, but their causes remain unknown. Ancient Greek physicians describe clinical manifestations compatible with candidiasis, and Roman physicians coin clinical terminology still in use today. No distinction is yet made between fungal, bacterial, or parasitic disease.
1835–1870	Founding of medical mycology as a discipline	The germ theory era begins with Agostino Bassi's 1835 demonstration that a fungus causes muscardine disease in silkworms — the first proof that a microorganism causes an infectious disease in animals. Within a decade, Schönlein, Remak, Gruby, Berg, and Malmsten establish fungal etiologies for favus, tinea, and thrush in humans. Medical mycology emerges as a recognisable discipline, though it is soon overshadowed by bacteriology.
1870–1910	Expansion of known fungal pathogens	A surge of discovery defines the major pathogenic fungal genera and diseases: Malassezia, Sporothrix, Cryptococcus, Madurella, Coccidioides, Histoplasma, and Paracoccidioides are all described in this period. Most are initially misclassified as protozoa before being reclassified as fungi. Clinical descriptions rely entirely on morphology and culture.
1910–1950	Consolidation of taxonomy and early diagnostics	Emmons standardises dermatophyte taxonomy; Sabouraud establishes the foundational culture media still bearing his name; Carter, Pinoy, and Carrión create clinical classification frameworks for mycetoma and chromoblastomycosis. Skin testing and complement fixation begin to be applied as diagnostic tools. Pablo Negroni plays a central role in establishing South American mycology.
1950–1970	First antifungal era and institutional development	The discovery of nystatin (1950) and amphotericin B (1955) provides the first effective therapies for systemic fungal infections. ISHAM is founded (1954), formalising medical mycology as an international discipline. Griseofulvin becomes available for dermatophyte infections. The first cases of mucormycosis and hyalohyphomycosis in immunocompromised patients are documented, anticipating the coming era of opportunistic infections.
1970–1990	The immunocompromised host and the azole revolution	The rise of transplant medicine, cancer chemotherapy, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic transforms medical mycology. Opportunistic infections caused by Candida, Aspergillus, Cryptococcus, Pneumocystis, and Histoplasma become major causes of morbidity and mortality. Ketoconazole (1978), fluconazole (1990), and itraconazole (1982) provide the first oral systemic antifungals. TMP-SMX prophylaxis dramatically reduces Pneumocystis mortality in HIV patients.
1990–2010	Molecular revolution and diagnostic advances	DNA sequencing and molecular phylogenetics reshape fungal taxonomy, revealing that many morphological species are in fact species complexes. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (2004) revolutionises laboratory identification. Voriconazole (2002) and caspofungin (2001) provide new antifungal classes. Galactomannan detection enables earlier diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. The first cases of azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus are documented.
2010–present	Emerging resistance, new pathogens, and global recognition	Candida auris (2009) emerges as a multidrug-resistant global threat. Environmentally-driven azole resistance in A. fumigatus spreads across continents. The COVID-19 pandemic triggers an unprecedented mucormycosis epidemic in India (2021). The WHO publishes the first Fungal Priority Pathogens List (2022), marking global institutional recognition of fungal infections as a major public health challenge. Novel antifungal agents enter clinical trials targeting mechanisms beyond existing drug classes.

Full timeline

Year	Event type	Fungal species	Disease	Details	Geographical location
c. 400 BCE	Research	Candida albicans	Oral candidiasis	Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates describes two cases of oral aphthae associated with severe underlying diseases in his work Epidemics, observations that modern mycologists identify as likely oral candidiasis. The association of the condition with debilitating illness anticipates the modern understanding of Candida as an opportunistic pathogen, a concept not formally established until the 19th century.	Ancient Greece
Ancient times	Classification	Trichophyton, Microsporum, Epidermophyton	Tinea	Ancient Romans coin the term tinea (meaning bookworm) to describe the circular lesion produced by dermatophytic fungi on the skin and scalp. The term persists into modern clinical mycology as the standard designation for dermatophyte infections across body sites.	Roman Empire
1834	Research	—	Favus	German anatomist Robert Remak analyzes a lesion known as favus under the microscope and observes multiple filaments, marking one of the first systematic scientific examinations of a dermatophyte infection. This work contributes to the emerging scientific study of dermatophytoses in the 19th century.	Europe
1835	Discovery	Beauveria bassiana	—	Italian entomologist Agostino Bassi publishes Del mal del segno, demonstrating after 25 years of research that the muscardine disease devastating silkworm farms across Europe is caused by a microscopic parasitic fungus, later named Beauveria bassiana in his honour. This is the first demonstration that a microorganism causes an infectious disease in animals, predating the germ theory of Pasteur and Koch and directly inspiring Johann Lukas Schönlein's subsequent identification of the fungal origin of favus in humans.	Italy
1835	Discovery	Candida	Candidiasis	Veron postulates intrauterine transmission and describes the first patient with esophageal candidiasis, representing one of the earliest clinical descriptions of the disease beyond oral manifestations. This observation anticipates the modern understanding of candidiasis as a systemic condition capable of affecting deep tissues and internal organs, a significance that would only become fully apparent in the 20th century with the rise of immunocompromised patient populations.	International
1839	Discovery	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Langenbeck isolates the causal microorganism from the mouth of a patient with aphthae, providing the first microbiological evidence of the candidiasis agent.	Europe
1839	Discovery	Candida albicans	Esophageal candidiasis	German surgeon Bernhard von Langenbeck provides the first description of a fungus as the causative agent of oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis, isolating the causal microorganism from the mouth of a patient with aphthae and providing the first microbiological evidence of the candidiasis agent.	Germany
1839	Discovery	—	Tinea favosa	Swiss physician Johann Lukas Schönlein identifies the fungus responsible for favus, establishing for the first time a fungal etiology for a human skin disease and laying groundwork for the field of medical mycology.	Europe
1841	Discovery	—	Tinea	David Gruby publishes work on the fungal origin of tinea, describing the role of fungi in skin infections and advancing early mycological research.	Europe
1841	Research	Candida albicans	Oral candidiasis	Berg demonstrates the fungal origin of oral lesions and reproduces the condition in healthy children, fulfilling an early form of Koch's postulates for candidiasis. By experimentally reproducing the infection, Berg provides the first causal proof linking a fungus to a human disease, a methodological advance that would influence the broader germ theory movement and set the standard for etiological proof in medical mycology throughout the 19th century.	Europe
1842	Discovery	—	Mycetoma	J. McGill describes foot tumour for the first time in India, providing the first documented account of mycetoma. Godfrey subsequently registers the first documented descriptions of the condition between 1844 and 1845, and Eyre and Godfrey describe 40 treated patients between 1844 and 1848, establishing mycetoma as a new clinical entity characterised by progressive swelling with multiple fistulae and grains of varying colours and consistencies.	India
1842	Discovery	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	Bennett first recognises chronic pulmonary aspergillosis as a fatal condition in Edinburgh, describing parasitic vegetable structures found growing in living animals, representing the earliest clinical recognition of what would later be classified as a distinct chronic fungal lung disease.	United Kingdom
1842	Research	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Gruby describes the fungus before the Paris Academy of Sciences, identifies it as the true agent of thrush, postulates intrauterine transmission, and reports the first candidiasis — later classified by the same author in 1847 as Sporotrichum.	France
1845	Discovery	Trichophyton	Dermatophytosis	Lebert identifies the fungus as a producer of chromoblastomycosis-like lesions; Malmsten describes a new genus Trichophyton, formalizing the taxonomy of dermatophytes.	Europe
1846	Discovery	Malassezia furfur	Pityriasis versicolor	Eichstedt describes the fungus responsible for pityriasis versicolor, a superficial mycosis of worldwide distribution affecting the stratum corneum of the skin. The authors do not yet propose a formal designation for the etiological agent.	Europe
1846	Research	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Berg recognises debilitating diseases as the main predisposing factor for candidiasis, anticipating the modern concept of Candida as an opportunistic pathogen.	Europe
1847	Discovery	Microsporum	Tinea capitis	A new fungal genus is established, later identified as Microsporum, expanding the taxonomic framework for dermatophytes.	Europe
1849	Discovery	Candida albicans	Vaginal yeast infection	Wilkinson provides the first description of vulvovaginal candidiasis, identifying the clinical syndrome that would later be confirmed to affect approximately three-quarters of women at least once during their lifetime.	International
1853	Classification	Microsporum furfur	Tinea versicolor	Charles-Philipe Robin reclassifies the pityriasis versicolor agent as Microsporum furfur and describes the disease as a dermatophytosis similar to Microsporum audouinii.	Europe
1853	Classification	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Robin names the organism Oidium albicans and describes systemic candidiasis in debilitated patients.	France
1855	Research	—	Mycetoma	Ballingali observes bone destruction in two clinical cases of mycetoma, documenting for the first time the osteoarticular involvement that characterises advanced disease. This finding establishes that mycetoma is not merely a superficial infection but a progressive destructive condition capable of invading bone, which would become a key criterion for staging disease severity and informing surgical versus medical treatment decisions in subsequent clinical practice.	India
1855	Discovery	—	Mucormycosis	German physician Friedrich Küchenmeister describes the first authentic human case of mucormycosis, in his work on parasites found in and on the human body, representing the earliest documented case of the disease prior to Furbringer's more frequently cited 1876 report.	Germany
1861	Classification	—	Mycetoma	British surgeon Henry Vandyke Carter distinguishes mycetoma from other tumour types and introduces the term mycetoma, referring to the grains of the causal agent as fungus particles.	India
1861	Discovery	Candida	Candidiasis	Zenker documents the first case of candidiasis in deep tissues, establishing that Candida can cause invasive infection beyond mucosal surfaces.	Europe
1874	Discovery	Malassezia	Seborrheic dermatitis	Malassez describes yeast cells in a patient with dermatitis seborrheica and denominates the structures as spores. Bizzozero independently observes the same forms on skin and names the fungus Saccharomyces sphaerelris and Saccharomyces ovalis based on morphology.	Europe
1875	Research	Candida albicans	Vaginal yeast infection, Oral candidiasis	Haussmann demonstrates that the causative organism in both vulvovaginal and oral candidiasis is the same, unifying two previously separately described clinical syndromes under a single fungal etiology and confirming the broad mucosal tropism of Candida albicans.	International
1876	Publication	—	Mucormycosis	Furbringer publishes the earliest reliable reports of mucormycosis, representing the first documented cases in which fungal presence in tissues is adequately demonstrated. Earlier 19th-century cases are considered doubtful due to lack of histological confirmation. This work establishes the methodological standard of tissue-based histological proof for fungal diagnosis, a principle that underpins all subsequent mycological pathology and remains central to the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections today.	International
1877	Research	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Grawitz describes the dimorphic character of the yeast. In the same year, Forbes studies the morphology of Candida albicans in London, examining a three-year-old girl with tongue and nail involvement that may correspond to the first case of mucocutaneous candidiasis.	Europe
1884	Discovery	Mucor corymbifera	Mucormycosis	L. Lichtein isolates the mucorales from bread, studies the disease in rabbits and coins the names Mucor corymbifera and Mucor rhizopodiformis.	International
1885	Discovery	Mucor corymbifer	Mucormycosis	Arnold Paltner describes the first case of disseminated rhinocerebral mucormycosis and without culturing the organism names it Mucor corymbifer.	International
1885	Publication	—	—	German Sims Woodhead and Arthur Hare publish Pathological Mycology: An Enquiry into the Etiology of Infectious Diseases, one of the first British textbooks to systematically address fungi as causes of human infection. The work represents an early attempt to establish medical mycology as a distinct discipline, though the term mycology in this context is soon supplanted by bacteriology in subsequent textbooks.	United Kingdom
1886	Classification	Mucor pusillus	Mucormycosis	W. Lindt describes Mucor pusillus and Mucor racemosus in humans and animals, expanding the known pathogenic mucorales.	International
1886	Discovery	Basidiobolus ranarum	—	German mycologist Eidam first isolates Basidiobolus ranarum from the dung and intestinal contents of frogs, describing a new genus within the Entomophthoraceae. The fungus is later found to be capable of saprophytic life in the intestines of cold-blooded vertebrates and decaying organic matter, and decades later becomes recognised as a cause of subcutaneous zygomycosis in humans.	Germany
1889	Classification	Malassezia	—	Baillon creates the genus Malassezia, placing the organism within the Blastomycetes.	Europe
1891	Discovery	Hortaea werneckii	Tinea nigra	Brazilian physician Alexandre Cerqueira describes tinea nigra in Salvador, Brazil, naming it queratomicosis nigricans palmaris. His son Castro Cequeira Pinto later popularizes the condition.	Brazil
1892	Discovery	Coccidioides immitis	Coccidioidomycosis	Argentine medical student Alejandro Posadas and his mentor Wernicke describe the first case of coccidioidomycosis in Buenos Aires, in an Argentine soldier with widespread cutaneous and disseminated disease. They produce a detailed description of the clinical manifestations, histopathology, and tissue phase of the agent, and reproduce the disease in animals, but erroneously classify the organism as a protozoan of the genus Psorosperma.	Argentina
1894	Discovery	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Sanfelice isolates an encapsulated yeast from fermented grape juice and demonstrates its pathogenicity by inoculating it into animals, naming it Saccharomyces neoformans. In the same year, the first human case of cryptococcosis is described by German pathologist Busse, who observes the yeast in a lesion on the tibia of a woman who later dies of disseminated disease; Busche subsequently isolates the fungus in culture.	Italy, Germany
1894	Discovery	Madurella mycetomatis	Mycetoma	R. Boyce and N.E. Surveyor establish that, in addition to fungi, actinomycetes are also causative agents of mycetoma. In the same year, M.H. Vincent isolates Streptothrix (Actinomadura) madurae from a case in Algeria, and Laveran identifies black grains from a previously reported mycetoma case, naming the fungus Streptothrix (Madurella) mycetomati.	Algeria
1894	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	American dermatologist Thomas Caspar Gilchrist first describes blastomycosis as a skin disease, initially identifying the causative agent as a protozoan before later correctly reclassifying it as a fungus. The disease becomes known as "Gilchrist's disease" in his honour.	United States
1896	Classification	Coccidioides immitis	Coccidioidomycosis	Rixford and Gilchrist formally describe the organism from the first North American cases in California, naming it Coccidioides immitis — Coccidioides meaning "resembling Coccidia" and immitis from the Latin for "harsh," reflecting the severe clinical course. The organism is still considered a protozoan at this stage.	United States
1896	Discovery	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	Benjamin Schenck, a medical student in the United States, becomes the first to isolate Sporothrix schenckii from a human specimen, describing the first case of sporotrichosis presenting as the classic nodular lymphangitic form of the disease. The fungus is subsequently named in his honour.	United States
1898	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	Gilchrist and William Royal Stokes publish the first formal description of Blastomyces dermatitidis as the causative fungus, consolidating Gilchrist's 1894 clinical observations into a named species.	United States
1900	Discovery	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	Hektoen and Perkins describe the second case of sporotrichosis in Chicago, Illinois — a boy who sustains a hammer blow injury to a finger and develops a lesion that resolves spontaneously, illustrating the traumatic inoculation route characteristic of the infection.	United States
1900	Classification	Coccidioides immitis	Coccidioidomycosis	Ophüls and Moffitt demonstrate that Coccidioides immitis is a fungus rather than a protozoan, correcting the original classification and placing coccidioidomycosis firmly within the field of medical mycology.	United States
1901	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Vuillemin considers Saccharomyces neoformans incorrectly classified within Saccharomyces based on its biochemical and morphological characteristics and its reproduction, and transfers it to the genus Cryptococcus.	International
1902	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The systemic spread of blastomycosis is first described, in a case previously misdiagnosed as a combination of tuberculosis and a blastomycosis skin infection, revealing that the disease can disseminate beyond the skin to internal organs.	United States
1903	Treatment	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	French dermatologist Raymond Sabouraud proposes the use of potassium iodide as a treatment for sporotrichosis, which is a common disease in France at the turn of the 20th century. Potassium iodide becomes a longstanding therapy for the infection, particularly in resource-limited settings.	France
1904	Classification	Pityrosporum malassezii	Pityriasis versicolor	French dermatologist Raymond Sabouraud classifies the spores observed in pityriasis versicolor within Blastomycetes, names the fungus Pityrosporum malassez, and establishes it as the etiological agent of dandruff. Sabouraud also separates the filament-forming agent (Malassezia furfur) from the yeast forms (Pityrosporum malassezii), placing them in different genera.	Europe
1905	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcal meningitis	Two cases of meningitis are described and the fungus is isolated; it is given the name Torula meninges and isolated from two additional meningitis cases under the name Torula histolytica.	International
1905	Discovery	Candida tropicalis	Bronchomoniliasis	British-Italian bacteriologist Aldo Castellani first describes bronchomoniliasis as a distinct disease entity while working in Ceylon, identifying Monilia tropicalis (later reclassified as Candida tropicalis) as the causative fungus of this chronic bronchial infection. Castellani argues for a fungal rather than bacterial etiology based on the observation that the fungus becomes scanty or disappears as the patient's condition improves, and no other agent such as the tubercle bacillus is found.	Sri Lanka
1906	Discovery	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	American pathologist Samuel Taylor Darling describes histoplasmosis for the first time in the Panama Canal construction zone, performing an autopsy on a patient with hepatosplenomegaly and pulmonary damage — signs closely resembling systemic leishmaniasis. The following year he observes two new cases with histiocytes containing intracellular microorganisms and classifies them as a protozoan without blepharoplast.	Panama
1906	Classification	Madurella mycetomatis	Mycetoma	Brumpt proposes the genus Madurella to classify the filamentous fungus isolated as Madurella mycetomatis, and suggests that Indiella species cause white-grain mycetomas.	International
1907	Discovery	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	Lutz and Splendore describe the first case of natural sporotrichosis infection in rats in Brazil, establishing an animal reservoir for the disease and anticipating later recognition of zoonotic transmission routes.	Brazil
1907	Research	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The dimorphic nature of the Blastomyces fungus is first identified, establishing that it exists as a mould in the environment and converts to a yeast form in host tissue — a characteristic shared with other major systemic dimorphic fungal pathogens.	United States
1908	Discovery	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Brazilian physician and naturalist Adolfo Lutz observes two patients with lesions on the left labial commissure and tongue base, describes the clinical and histopathological aspects, isolates the fungus in culture, and confirms its dimorphism. In his original description he erroneously identifies it as Coccidioides immitis; Lutz notes certain differences from C. immitis and considers it an intermediate form between C. immitis and Blastomyces dermatitidis.	Brazil
1908	Research	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	Splendore reports the presence of asteroid bodies — yeast cells surrounded by radiating extensions — around Sporothrix cells, identifying a characteristic histopathological marker that becomes a useful diagnostic feature of sporotrichosis tissue specimens.	Brazil
1909	Discovery	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Chagas identifies the organism Pneumocystis in the lung of a guinea pig experimentally infected with Trypanosoma, initially believing it to be part of the trypanosome's life cycle rather than a separate organism.	Brazil
1910	Treatment	—	Dermatophytosis	Griseofulvin is identified as a treatment for dermatophyte infections, later becoming a standard oral therapy for tinea.	Europe
1911	Discovery	Scedosporium apiospermum	Eumycetoma	Scedosporium apiospermum (initially described under the synonym Monosporium apiospermum) is identified as a cause of human eumycetoma, representing the first detectable description of a scedosporal disease and beginning more than a century of taxonomic revisions for the organism, which is subsequently referred to at various points as Petriellidium boydii, Allescheria boydii, and Pseudallescheria sheari.	International
1911	Discovery	Monosporium apiospermum	Mycetoma	Saccardo isolates the white-grain mycetoma fungus and names it Monosporium apiospermum.	International
1912	Classification	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Italian-Brazilian parasitologist Alfonso Splendore publishes his findings differentiating the fungus from Coccidioides immitis and assigning it the name Zymonema brasiliensis, in a paper titled "Zimonematosi con localizzazione nella cavita della bocca osservata nel Brasile," establishing it as a distinct species.	Brazil
1912	Classification	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	Henrique Da Rocha Lima reclassifies the etiological agent as a budding fungus, establishing its fungal rather than protozoan nature.	Brazil
1912	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The first case of canine blastomycosis is reported, establishing dogs as a species highly susceptible to the disease; subsequent epidemiological work would show dogs contract blastomycosis at rates eight to ten times higher than humans, often from the same environmental exposure.	United States
1912	Discovery	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Van der Moer and Brug independently recognise Pneumocystis as a distinct organism separate from Trypanosoma.	International
1913	Classification	—	Mycetoma	Pinoy proposes dividing mycetomas into two categories based on the characteristics of the etiological agent, establishing a classification framework that anticipates the modern distinction between eumycetoma and actinomycetoma.	International
1914	Research	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Pedro Días da Silva begins reporting findings of paracoccidioidomycosis from different parts of Brazil, and in 1918 collaborates with Souza Campos in publishing further work on the condition, expanding clinical and epidemiological knowledge of the disease.	Brazil
1916	Research	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Moses applies complement fixation as a diagnostic supplement for paracoccidioidomycosis. In the same year, Carini describes three suspected cases in Brazil.	Brazil
1921	Classification	Cladosporium werneckii	Tinea nigra	Ramos e Silva publishes the first case report from Rio de Janeiro, and Parreiras Horta isolates the fungus and names it Cladosporium werneckii.	Brazil
1923	Classification	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	Berkhout transfers the organism to the genus Candida, establishing the nomenclature still in use today.	International
1927	Classification	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Souza Campos and Almeida definitively separate the fungus from Coccidioides immitis and name it Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. In 1930, Fonseca Filho and A. Leão prepare antigen for cutaneous testing from culture filtrates.	Brazil
1928	Discovery	Candida tropicalis	Bronchomoniliasis	Galbreath and Weiss report a case of bronchomoniliasis from Puerto Rico, noting that the disease has by this time been observed across tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions including India, South Africa, West Africa, Sudan, Egypt, the Belgian Congo, South America, France, southern Italy, and England, as well as a case from Baltimore reported by Boggs and Pincoffs — establishing the condition as a globally distributed, though geographically clustered, fungal disease of the bronchi.	Puerto Rico
1928	Research	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Brazilian pathologist Floriano Paulo de Almeida publishes his study of cutaneous lesions of blastomycosis in experimentally infected guinea pigs, contributing the third namesake to what becomes known as Lutz-Splendore-de Almeida disease, alongside Adolfo Lutz and Alfonso Splendore.	Brazil
1931	Discovery	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	Jorge Lobo describes the first human case of lacaziosis in an indigenous person from the Amazonas region of Brazil. The patient presents keloid-like lesions without lymphangitis or systemic dissemination; Lobo considers the condition a variety of paracoccidioidomycosis and names it blastomicosis queloideana.	Brazil
1931	Research	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Argentine mycologist Pablo Negroni mentions four cases of the mycosis in his doctoral thesis, having confused it with C. immitis. He describes the in vitro conversion from the mycelial to the yeast phase, and in 1934 identifies the first case of paracoccidioidomycosis in Argentina.	Argentina
1933	Research	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	W. De Monbrum confirms the fungal nature of Histoplasma capsulatum in the United States by culturing the fungus from clinical materials and reproducing the disease in animals, corroborating Koch's postulates and confirming the dimorphic nature of the organism.	United States
1934	Classification	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis, Cryptococcosis, Coccidioidomycosis	American mycologist Rhoda Williams Benham publishes a paper distinguishing the causative agent of blastomycosis from cryptococcosis and coccidioidomycosis, resolving taxonomic confusion that had persisted since the 1890s among these morphologically similar systemic dimorphic fungal diseases.	United States
1934	Classification	Trichophyton, Microsporum, Epidermophyton	Dermatophytosis	Emmons revises dermatophyte classification, grouping them into three genera — Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton — using morphological and nutritional criteria. This taxonomy remains valid until the introduction of griseofulvin as a clinical reference point.	United States
1936	Discovery	Fonsecaea	Chromoblastomycosis	Argentine mycologist Pablo Negroni studies the first Argentine case of chromoblastomycosis and proposes the genus Fonsecaea to classify the causative dematiaceous fungi.	Argentina
1936	Research	Coccidioides immitis	Coccidioidomycosis	Ernest Dickson and his student Myrnie Gifford establish that the self-limited illness known as San Joaquin fever, Desert fever, or Valley fever — previously considered a separate entity — is in fact the primary form of coccidioidomycosis caused by C. immitis, unifying what had been seen as distinct clinical entities.	United States
1938	Research	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	Fialho reports a second patient from the Amazonas with tumoral lesions of the right ear pavilion, and concludes based on histopathological similarity that Lobo's disease differs from paracoccidioidomycosis, naming it enfermedad de Jorge Lobo.	Brazil
1938	Discovery	Aspergillus	Aspergilloma	French physician Deve provides the first radiological description of aspergilloma, terming it a "mega-mycetome intra-bronchiectasique," establishing the characteristic fungal ball appearance within a pulmonary cavity as a distinct radiological entity.	France
1938	Publication	—	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Flavio Niño publishes a book dedicated to the study of paracoccidioidomycosis, representing one of the first monographs on the disease.	Argentina
1940	Discovery	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	Argentine mycologist Pablo Negroni diagnoses the first case of histoplasmosis in Argentina, expanding the known geographic distribution of the disease in South America.	Argentina
1940	Treatment	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	O. Ribeiro introduces sulfa therapy for paracoccidioidomycosis; prior to this, cases are systematically fatal. In 1942, Conant and Howell observe that the fungus produces conidia in culture, previously considered a sterile organism.	Brazil
1940	Research	Candida albicans	Candidiasis	The introduction of antibiotics leads to an abrupt increase in the incidence of practically all clinical forms of candidiasis, making Candida the fourth most frequently isolated microorganism in blood cultures of hospitalised patients.	International
1942	Discovery	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Van der Meer and Brug identify Pneumocystis in the lungs of children with plasma cell pneumonitis, representing the first confirmed human cases of the infection.	International
1943	Research	—	Mucormycosis	J.E. Gregory, A. Golden, and collaborators report three cases of the rhinocerebral form of mucormycosis, drawing clinical attention to this manifestation of the disease.	United States
1944	Research	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	A. Christie and J.C. Paterson perform histoplasmin skin tests in persons with pulmonary calcifications and negative reactions to tuberculin, demonstrating the wide geographic distribution of the infection and revealing subclinical exposure in populations previously considered unaffected.	United States
1946	Classification	Fonsecaea pedrosoi	Chromoblastomycosis	F.W. Simson isolates Fonsecaea pedrosoi var. cladosporium, and in 1954 A. Trejos renames it Cladosporium carrionii, reflecting ongoing taxonomic revision of chromoblastomycosis agents.	International
1948	Research	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	C.W. Emmons achieves the isolation of Histoplasma capsulatum from soil, establishing the saprophytic environmental reservoir of the fungus and explaining the inhalation route of primary infection.	United States
1949	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Evans divides C. neoformans into three serotypes (A, B, and C) based on agglutination reactions due to the antigenic properties of its capsular polysaccharide, ending the previous treatment of the species as homogeneous.	International
1950	Classification	Fonsecaea pedrosoi	Chromoblastomycosis	Carrión classifies chromoblastomycosis into the following clinical varieties: verrucous, nodular, plaque, tumoral, and cicatricial, providing a clinical framework still referenced in modern mycology.	International
c. 1950	Research	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	Blastomycosis is first determined to be primarily a respiratory disease, with most skin lesions resulting from systemic spread from an initial lung infection, overturning the earlier view of blastomycosis as primarily a cutaneous condition.	United States
1950	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Benham proposes the name Cryptococcus neoformans, consolidating previous nomenclature and establishing the definitive genus and species designation still in use today.	International
1950	Discovery	—	Candidiasis	American microbiologist Elizabeth Lee Hazen and biochemist Rachel Fuller Brown, researchers at the New York State Department of Health, announce the discovery of nystatin at the National Academy of Sciences — the first antifungal antibiotic safe for human use. Isolated from a soil bacterium (Streptomyces noursei) found on a dairy farm in Virginia, nystatin proves effective against Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans and receives FDA approval for clinical use in 1954. Brown and Hazen donate all $13 million in patent royalties to fund further biomedical research.	United States
1951	Research	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Vanek and Jirovec report Pneumocystis pneumonia in premature and malnourished infants, establishing that immunocompromised states in children constitute a major risk factor for the infection.	Europe
1952	Discovery	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	The first case of lacaziosis is described in Venezuela, expanding the known geographic range of the disease beyond Brazil.	Venezuela
1952	Research	Aspergillus	Aspergillosis	Hinson and collaborators describe bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, and the importance of allergic forms of aspergillosis becomes recognised. This clinical form is found frequently in patients with leukaemia, lymphoma, malignant diseases, and transplant recipients of haematopoietic and renal cells, with increasing incidence driven by growing use of immunosuppressive chemotherapy.	International
1952	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The first documented case of blastomycosis outside North or Central America is reported in Tunisia, expanding the known geographic range of the disease beyond its previously assumed New World distribution.	Tunisia
1954	Discovery	—	Chromoblastomycosis	Chromoblastomycosis is diagnosed in Finland in individuals who frequented sauna baths and in patients with scars from surgical instruments and leeches, documenting an unusual epidemiological context for the infection in a non-tropical setting.	Finland
1954	Classification	Candida	Candidiasis	The VIII Botanical Congress officially accepts the genus Candida, consolidating the nomenclature proposed by Berkhout in 1923 and standardising the taxonomy of this clinically important genus.	International
1954	Organization	—	—	The International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) is founded at the VII International Congress of Botany with 150 members, with American mycologist Libero Ajello as co-founder and first president. ISHAM becomes the leading international body representing professionals working with fungal diseases and pathogenic fungi, subsequently affiliating over thirty national medical mycology associations and becoming a recognized non-governmental affiliate of the World Health Organisation.	International
1955	Treatment	—	Invasive fungal infection	Amphotericin B is developed, becoming the first antifungal agent and establishing itself as the gold standard for treating serious invasive fungal infections (IFI). Despite its efficacy, its significant toxicity profile drives the pharmaceutical industry to develop safer antifungal families in subsequent decades.	United States
1956	Classification	—	Mucormycosis	Chester Emmons creates the term phycomycosis to include infections caused by fungi traditionally placed in the class Phycomycetes, encompassing infections produced by fungi of the orders Mucorales and Entomophthorales. The term continues to be used although taxonomists no longer accept it.	United States
1956	Classification	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	R. Ciferri and collaborators formally characterize the fungus, and two years later Borelli proposes the name lobomicosis for the disease.	International
1956	Discovery	Talaromyces marneffei	Talaromycosis	Penicillium marneffei is isolated for the first time in Dalat, Vietnam, from the liver of a bamboo rat (Rhizomys sinensis), establishing the animal reservoir of the infection.	Vietnam
1956	Discovery	Basidiobolus ranarum	Basidiobolomycosis	Joe, Eng, Van der Muillen, and Emmons report and describe the first four cases of subcutaneous zygomycosis caused by Basidiobolus ranarum in Indonesia, establishing the fungus as a human pathogen seven decades after its initial isolation from frogs. Hundreds of subsequent cases are reported, predominantly affecting children and males in tropical regions of East and West Africa and Southeast Asia.	Indonesia
1957	Treatment	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	The first recorded patient with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis complicating tuberculosis receives treatment with amphotericin B, marking the earliest documented antifungal therapy for this chronic lung disease.	International
1957	Research	—	Mucormycosis	R. Baker revives the term mucormycosis and compiles a decade of cases across 75 years, consolidating clinical knowledge of the disease.	United States
1957	Research	Fusarium, Acremonium, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Scopulariopsis, Beauveria, Trichoderma	Hyalohyphomycosis	Stefani and Allegra report the first fungal species in cancer patients, representing the earliest clinical description of hyalohyphomycosis as a disease entity in immunocompromised hosts.	International
1959	Treatment	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Laca and Sampaio introduce intravenous amphotericin B therapy for paracoccidioidomycosis, followed more recently by the successful use of azoles, significantly improving patient outcomes.	Brazil
1959	Classification	Aspergillus	Aspergilloma, Mycetoma	Finegold, Will, and Murray publish the first formal "classification" of aspergillosis, at a time when the term mycetoma is used for what is now recognised as a fungal ball within a pulmonary cavity — terminology since reserved for the distinct subcutaneous fungal infection of the same name.	United States
1959	Treatment	—	Chromoblastomycosis	Derbes, Friedman, and Krafchuk report treatment of chromoblastomycosis using vibrapuncture injection of amphotericin B directly into lesions, representing an early attempt at local antifungal therapy for the disease prior to the development of effective systemic treatments. The high local concentrations required are later shown to cause significant adverse effects including pain, hemolysis, fibrosis, and gangrene.	United States
1959	Classification	Talaromyces marneffei	Talaromycosis	French mycologist Gabriel Segretain, at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, formally describes Penicillium marneffei as a new species with disease potential, after accidentally infecting himself in a finger while attempting to inoculate a hamster — representing the first known human case of the infection.	France
1960	Research	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Pneumocystis is recognised as an opportunistic pathogen in children with acute leukaemia and immunodeficiencies, broadening understanding of the populations at risk beyond malnourished infants.	International
1960–1961	Outbreak	Aspergillus	Aspergillosis	An epidemic decimating birds appears in England as a consequence of consumption of food contaminated by aflatoxins, establishing the pathological importance of Aspergillus-produced toxins in animals.	United Kingdom
1961	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The first isolation of B. dermatitidis from soil is achieved at a tobacco farm, establishing the environmental reservoir of the fungus. All subsequent isolations are associated with shaded, very humid locations.	International
1961	Discovery	Conidiobolus coronatus	—	Conidiobolomycosis is first reported in horses in Texas, marking the initial recognition that a fungal genus previously thought to infect only insects could cause disease in mammals.	United States
1962	Classification	—	Mucormycosis	Roberts reports the cutaneous modality of mucormycosis infections. In 1968, the terms mucormycosis for infections caused by Mucorales and entomophthoromycosis for those caused by Entomophthorales are proposed, providing a clearer etiological classification framework.	International
1964	Discovery	Basidiobolus ranarum	Basidiobolomycosis	The first case of gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis is reported, expanding the clinical spectrum of Basidiobolus ranarum infection beyond the cutaneous form first described in 1956. The gastrointestinal form, presenting with abdominal pain, fever, and a mass often mistaken for bowel cancer or Crohn's disease, becomes recognised as a serious though less common manifestation of the disease, predominantly affecting the southwestern United States, Africa, South America, and Asia.	International
1964	Research	Aspergillus	Aspergilloma	Longbottom, Pepys, and Clive develop the diagnostic precipitin test for Aspergillus pulmonary mycetoma in London, establishing antibody detection as a means of confirming the fungal aetiology of cavitary lung lesions visualised on chest radiographs and tomography.	United Kingdom
1965	Discovery	Conidiobolus coronatus	Conidiobolomycosis	The first human case of conidiobolomycosis is described in Jamaica, establishing the disease as a cause of facial fungal infection in humans, typically beginning in the nose and extending to the paranasal sinuses, cheeks, and upper lip.	Jamaica
1965	Publication	Aspergillus	—	Raper and Thom publish A Manual of Aspergilli, describing 18 groups, 132 species, and 18 varieties. Currently, molecular methods allow differentiation of pathologically important species within the section Fumigati, some of which show high minimum inhibitory concentration values against amphotericin B, voriconazole, and itraconazole.	United States
1966	Discovery	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Argentine mycologist Pablo Negroni isolates P. brasiliensis from soil in the Roque Sáenz Peña area of Chaco province, Argentina, establishing a definitive environmental reservoir for the fungus, which had previously been considered sterile in culture.	Argentina
1968	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Wilson, Bennett, and Bailey identify the fourth serotype D and the hybrid AD of C. neoformans through agglutination and absorption studies with anti-cryptococcal sera, completing the four-serotype classification framework initiated by Evans in 1950.	United States
1969	Classification	—	—	American ecologist Robert Whittaker proposes assigning fungi their own kingdom, separating them from plants and animals. This classification recognizes the unique heterotrophic, absorptive nutritional strategy of fungi and becomes the foundation for subsequent taxonomic frameworks, including the five-kingdom scheme later refined by Margulis and Schwartz in 1988.	United States
1970	Research	Histoplasma capsulatum	Histoplasmosis	Randhawa publishes a review identifying 30 autochthonous cases of histoplasmosis in Southeast Asia, establishing the disease's presence in the region for the first time, although its epidemiology there remains comparatively unexplored for decades afterward.	Southeast Asia
1970	Classification	Exophiala werneckii	Tinea nigra	Von Arx, based on observation of conidial production from an anélide, reclassifies the fungus into the genus Exophiala as Exophiala werneckii.	International
1970	Treatment	—	Chromoblastomycosis	González Ochoa reports the cure of chromoblastomycosis using high doses of 5-fluorocytosine, marking an important advance in antifungal therapy for this difficult-to-treat infection.	Mexico
1972	Research	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	An epidemic in Big Fork, Minnesota provides new knowledge about blastomycosis and the habitat of its causal agent, contributing to establishing the geographic distribution of the disease through autochthonous clinical case reporting.	United States
1973	Discovery	Talaromyces marneffei	Talaromycosis	The first case of natural human infection is recorded in an American missionary with Hodgkin's disease who had visited Southeast Asia, establishing the clinical profile of penicilliosis in an immunocompromised host.	United States
1974	Classification	—	Phaeohyphomycosis	L. Ajello coins the term phaeohyphomycosis to encompass diseases produced by different black fungi presenting in host tissues as dark yeasts, hyphae, or pseudohyphae — but not as sclerotic bodies or fumagoid cells characteristic of chromoblastomycosis. The term is accepted by the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) and derives from the Greek phaios (dark), replacing earlier names such as micetoma, tinea nigra, and piedra negra.	United States
1974	Discovery	Lomentospora prolificans	Scedosporiosis	Lomentospora prolificans is first described under the name Scedosporium prolificans, identifying a dematiaceous fungus that later proves to be among the most antifungal-resistant pathogens in clinical mycology, consistently resistant to amphotericin B, voriconazole, and other major antifungal classes.	International
1975	Research	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	Over one hundred cases are documented, all originating from countries with tropical climates in Central and South America, consolidating lobomycosis as a disease of the American tropics. The term lobomicosis is preferred over blastomicosis queloideana as lesions are not always keloid-like.	International
1975	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Kwon-Chung describes the complete life cycle of C. neoformans, naming the sexual phase of serotypes A and D Filobasidiella neoformans and the sexual phase of serotypes B and C F. bacillispora.	International
1976	Discovery	Saksenaea vasiformis	Mucormycosis	Saksenaea vasiformis is isolated from a patient who received glucocorticoids following a traffic accident, adding a new species to the growing list of mucormycosis agents.	International
1978	Treatment	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Ketoconazole is introduced for the treatment of paracoccidioidomycosis, producing excellent results over one year of administration with a low relapse rate and good tolerability, representing a significant advance over amphotericin B.	International
1979	Research	Aspergillus fumigatus	Aspergillosis	Reiss and Lehmann first describe the diagnostic value of serum galactomannan — a polysaccharide cell wall component released by Aspergillus during active growth — for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, establishing the conceptual basis for non-culture-based antigen detection in fungal diagnostics. This approach would take over two decades to reach routine clinical application but represents a paradigm shift toward biomarker-based diagnosis of invasive fungal infections.	International
1980	Research	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Standard and Kaufman describe the immunological method for identifying the mycelial form of P. brasiliensis. Extraction of a soluble cell-free antigen (exoantigen) allows detection of specific precipitation bands by immunodiffusion, providing a reliable diagnostic tool for the disease.	International
1981	Research	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Pneumocystis pneumonia is recognised as the first opportunistic infection described in association with HIV, and is subsequently categorised as an AIDS-defining illness, dramatically raising the clinical profile of the infection worldwide.	United States
1981	Classification	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	Gefter and collaborators introduce the term "semi-invasive" pulmonary aspergillosis, proposing a new way of understanding the spectrum of Aspergillus lung infections that lie between simple aspergilloma and acute invasive disease.	United States
1982	Treatment	Paracoccidioides brasiliensis	Paracoccidioidomycosis	Itraconazole is introduced and becomes the drug of choice for paracoccidioidomycosis, effective in approximately 95% of cases at doses of 100–300 mg/day for six months, with a low relapse rate and good general tolerability.	International
1982	Classification	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	Binder, Faling, and Pugatch introduce the term "chronic necrotising pulmonary aspergillosis," describing it as a discrete clinical entity distinct from simple aspergilloma and from acute invasive aspergillosis, further refining the nosology of chronic Aspergillus lung disease.	United States
1984	Classification	Hortaea werneckii	Tinea nigra	Nishimura and Miyaji propose the genus Hortae based on electron microscopy observations of conidiogenic sympodial cells and anélides. McGinnis et al. subsequently suggest the genus Phaeoannellomyces as an alternative, reflecting ongoing taxonomic debate over the correct placement of the tinea nigra agent.	International
1984	Research	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	An epidemic in Eagle River, Wisconsin further advances understanding of blastomycosis epidemiology and the environmental conditions associated with B. dermatitidis, consolidating the picture of the disease's distribution in the upper Midwest.	United States
1986	Discovery	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	Klein and collaborators achieve the definitive isolation of Blastomyces dermatitidis from soil during investigation of a large outbreak of blastomycosis in Wisconsin, providing the strongest direct evidence linking the environmental reservoir of the fungus to human disease and resolving decades of uncertainty about the organism's natural habitat.	United States
c. 1980	Discovery	Malassezia sympodialis	—	Based on DNA-GC content hybridization studies conducted in the late 1980s, Malassezia sympodialis is defined as a new species within the genus, expanding understanding of intrageneric diversity.	International
c. 1980s	Research	Talaromyces marneffei	Talaromycosis	A notable increase in human cases begins in the region from the second half of the 1980s, coinciding with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southeast Asia. The endemic area expands toward the Indian subcontinent, and penicilliosis becomes the third most serious AIDS-associated infection in Thailand, surpassed only by tuberculosis and cryptococcosis.	Southeast Asia
1988	Classification	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	DNA analysis demonstrates that Pneumocystis is a fungus rather than a protozoan, shifting its nomenclature from the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and opening the path to formal species-level renaming.	International
1989	Treatment	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) formally recommends trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) prophylaxis for HIV-infected patients with CD4 cell counts below 200/mm³, establishing the first evidence-based antifungal prophylaxis guideline for immunocompromised patients. A landmark 1992 randomised controlled trial by the Dutch AIDS Treatment Group subsequently confirms that daily TMP-SMX is more effective than monthly aerosolized pentamidine as primary prophylaxis, making TMP-SMX the standard of care and dramatically reducing Pneumocystis pneumonia mortality in the AIDS epidemic.	United States, International
1990	Treatment	—	—	Fluconazole is introduced as a new-generation azole antifungal, offering broader spectrum coverage and an improved safety profile compared to earlier azoles such as ketoconazole. Over the following two decades it becomes one of the most widely used antifungals globally.	International
1990	Research	Cryptococcus gattii	Cryptococcosis	Ellis and Pfeiffer identify the ecological niche of C. neoformans var. gattii as certain eucalyptus species, including Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. tereticornis, explaining the geographic distribution of this variety.	Australia
c. 1990	Research	Malassezia	—	Molecular techniques, particularly sequencing of the rADN region, begin to be applied to Malassezia systematics from around 1990 onward, enabling significant advances in species-level identification within the genus and superseding ambiguous phenotypic tests such as catalase, β-glucosidase reactions, and lipid utilization profiles.	International
1992	Treatment	Trichophyton, Epidermophyton	Dermatophytosis, Onychomycosis	Terbinafine, a synthetic allylamine antifungal developed by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, receives FDA approval in topical form and subsequently as an oral agent in 1996, becoming the gold standard treatment for dermatophyte infections including onychomycosis. Unlike azoles, terbinafine acts early in the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway by selectively inhibiting squalene epoxidase, causing toxic accumulation of squalene and fungal cell death. Its high cure rates, favourable tolerability, and fungicidal mechanism make it the preferred oral treatment for nail dermatophytosis, capturing approximately 80% of the global onychomycosis market.	United States
1994	Outbreak	Coccidioides immitis	Coccidioidomycosis	Following the Northridge earthquake in California, a sudden increase in coccidioidomycosis cases occurs in the affected areas, at a rate over ten times the baseline incidence, demonstrating that seismic soil disruption — alongside windstorms and construction — can trigger localized outbreaks of the disease by aerosolizing fungal spores.	United States
1996	Classification	Malassezia	—	Guého and collaborators revise the genus Malassezia using morphological, physiological, ultrastructural, and molecular biology techniques, expanding it to include seven species. The addition of molecular methods to fungal systematics elevates the number of recognized species in the genus, which currently reaches fourteen.	International
1998–2004	Outbreak	Sporothrix schenckii	Sporotrichosis	The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro diagnoses 1,503 cats, 64 dogs, and 756 human cases of sporotrichosis, representing the largest documented epidemic of zoonotic sporotrichosis transmitted via contact with domestic cats. Over 80% of feline and human cases have clear antecedents of contact with cats through bites and scratches; Sporothrix is isolated from cutaneous lesions in 100% of sick cats and from oral swabs in 66.2% of cases, establishing cat-to-human transmission as the dominant route in urban settings.	Brazil
1998	Research	Aspergillus fumigatus	Aspergillosis	Azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus strains bearing mutations in the cyp51A gene — including M220I isolated from a Swedish patient — begin to be documented in clinical settings, marking the emergence of acquired azole resistance in this major pathogen. These mutations arise in patients receiving long-term azole therapy, particularly for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, and involve a growing range of substitutions at codons G54, G138, P216, M220, and G448.	International
1999	Discovery	Lacazia loboi	Lacaziosis	Taborda and collaborators identify the fungus as the etiological agent of lacaziosis in dolphins off the coasts of Florida and Suriname, establishing a zoonotic reservoir and renaming the genus Lacazia in honor of Jorge Lobo.	United States, Suriname
1999	Classification	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcosis	Franzot and collaborators describe a new variety for serotype A — C. neoformans var. grubii — and restrict the variety neoformans to serotype D isolates only.	International
1999	Outbreak	Cryptococcus gattii	Cryptococcosis	An epidemic of cryptococcosis due to C. gattii affecting both animals and humans is described in the southwest of Canada and the east coast of Vancouver Island. Exhaustive environmental sampling detects the pathogen in tree hollows, soil detritus, and other materials, indicating that C. gattii can establish itself in temperate zones beyond its previously known tropical and subtropical range in Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Climate change and land use are proposed as explanatory factors for this geographic expansion.	Canada, International
2001	Treatment	—	Invasive candidiasis, Aspergillosis	Caspofungin, developed by Merck Laboratories, receives FDA approval as the first member of the echinocandin class of antifungals — a new mechanism of action that inhibits β-1,3-D-glucan synthase, disrupting fungal cell wall biosynthesis. Unlike polyenes and azoles, echinocandins target a component absent in mammalian cells, offering improved safety profiles. Micafungin and anidulafungin follow in 2005 and 2006 respectively, establishing echinocandins as the preferred first-line treatment for invasive candidiasis.	United States
2002	Classification	Pneumocystis jirovecii	Pneumocystis pneumonia	Stringer et al. publish a landmark paper in Emerging Infectious Diseases disseminating the name Pneumocystis jirovecii Frenkel 1999 for the human pathogen, replacing Pneumocystis carinii. The renaming honours Czech parasitologist Otto Jirovec and reflects molecular evidence that Pneumocystis organisms in different host species are genetically distinct, with each species being host-specific.	International
2002	Classification	Coccidioides posadasii	Coccidioidomycosis	Fisher, Koenig, White, and Taylor identify Coccidioides posadasii as genetically distinct from Coccidioides immitis despite their morphological similarity, splitting the single species previously recognised since 1896 into two — with C. immitis predominating in California and C. posadasii more prevalent in Arizona and the wider southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central and South America.	International
2002	Treatment	—	Aspergillosis, Invasive candidiasis	Voriconazole, developed by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, receives FDA and European approval as the first second-generation triazole antifungal. Structurally derived from fluconazole but with significantly broader spectrum, it demonstrates activity against Aspergillus species, Candida species including fluconazole-resistant strains, Fusarium, and Scedosporium. It becomes the standard of care for invasive aspergillosis and represents a major advance over first-generation azoles in treating serious mould infections.	United States
2003	Classification	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	Denning and collaborators propose comprehensive diagnostic criteria and a revised nomenclature for chronic cavitary and fibrosing pulmonary and pleural aspergillosis, consolidating decades of inconsistent terminology and establishing the modern framework subsequently adopted in international clinical guidelines.	International
2003	Research	Scedosporium apiospermum, Lomentospora prolificans	Scedosporiosis	A US study reports that scedosporiosis accounts for 25% of all non-Aspergillus mycelial fungal infections among organ transplant recipients, establishing Scedosporium species as significant emerging opportunistic pathogens in this growing immunocompromised population.	United States
2003	Research	Cryptococcus gattii	Cryptococcosis	The genome sequencing of C. gattii is completed, following its establishment as an independent species through molecular studies, enabling deeper understanding of its pathogenicity and epidemiology.	International
2003	Outbreak	Aspergillus	Aspergillosis	During the SARS outbreak, fungal co-infections are reported in 14.8–33% of affected patients, accounting for 25–73.7% of SARS-related deaths, representing an early documented instance of severe fungal disease complicating a viral respiratory pandemic — a pattern that foreshadows the much larger COVID-19-associated mucormycosis epidemic in India nearly two decades later.	International
2003	Research	Aspergillus	Aspergillosis	The FDA clears the Platelia Aspergillus EIA (Bio-Rad Laboratories), the first commercially available immunoenzymatic assay for detection of circulating galactomannan antigen in serum, for diagnostic use in invasive aspergillosis. The test can detect galactomannan 7–14 days before other diagnostic modalities become apparent, enabling preemptive antifungal therapy before life-threatening infection develops, and becomes a standard microbiological criterion in EORTC/MSG diagnostic guidelines for invasive fungal infections.	United States
2004	Research	—	—	Commercial MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry platforms begin to be released for clinical microbiology identification, initially adapted to bacteria and subsequently extended to yeasts and filamentous fungi. By generating highly specific protein spectra that function as molecular barcodes, MALDI-TOF MS enables species-level identification of fungal pathogens within minutes — a dramatic reduction compared to traditional culture-based methods requiring days to weeks. The technology revolutionises clinical mycology laboratory practice, significantly reducing turnaround times and enabling identification of cryptic species complexes previously indistinguishable by morphology alone.	International
2004	Research	Cryptococcus gattii	Cryptococcosis	Kidd and collaborators identify the rare genotype of Cryptococcus gattii responsible for the Vancouver Island, British Columbia outbreak, and Fraser and collaborators subsequently demonstrate that same-sex mating between two α mating-type strains likely gave rise to this highly virulent, clonal genotype — providing a genetic explanation for the emergence of hypervirulent C. gattii strains capable of colonizing new temperate geographic niches.	Canada
2006	Classification	—	—	James et al. publish a landmark phylogenetic analysis of six genes from across the kingdom Fungi, producing major revisions in fungal systematics. The study advances the concept of phylogenetic species recognition, establishing evolutionary relationships among diverse fungal microorganisms and demonstrating that many species previously considered simple morphotypes are in fact species complexes, often distinguishable only at the molecular level — a finding with direct clinical implications for antifungal susceptibility.	International
2007	Research	Aspergillus fumigatus	Aspergillosis	Mellado and collaborators identify a novel pan-azole resistance mechanism in A. fumigatus driven by a tandem repeat of 34 base pairs in the promoter of the cyp51A gene combined with the L98H substitution (TR34/L98H), later found to originate from environmental exposure to agricultural azole fungicides rather than from clinical azole use. This environmentally-driven resistance route, subsequently identified across Europe, Asia, and Africa in both environmental and clinical samples, represents a major new threat to antifungal therapy and demonstrates that agricultural fungicide use has direct consequences for human medicine.	Netherlands
2009	Discovery	Candida auris	Candidiasis	Candida auris is first described after isolation from the external ear canal of a patient in Tokyo, Japan, representing a novel multidrug-resistant yeast species. Subsequent genomic analyses reveal that C. auris emerged simultaneously across multiple continents as five genetically distinct clades, suggesting independent emergence events rather than a single origin. Its resistance to multiple antifungal classes, ability to persist in healthcare environments, capacity to spread between patients, and tendency to be misidentified by routine laboratory methods make it a significant global public health threat. In 2016, the CDC issues a clinical alert to healthcare facilities worldwide warning of its international emergence.	Japan, International
2010	Classification	Fonsecaea rubica	Chromoblastomycosis	Molecular biology methods describe Fonsecaea rubica, a new species morphologically similar to F. pedrosoi and F. monophora, further expanding the taxonomic complexity of chromoblastomycosis agents.	International
2013	Organization	—	—	British infectious diseases physician David Denning, professor at the University of Manchester, founds the Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI), officially launched in the UK House of Commons and simultaneously in New York, with actor Rupert Everett co-presenting the London launch. GAFFI becomes an international foundation focused on increasing global awareness of fungal disease, improving access to diagnostics, securing affordable antifungal therapeutics, and educating health professionals, citing an estimated 1,350,000 annual deaths from fungal infections linked to AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis, and asthma. In 2015, GAFFI launches its "95-95 by 2025" initiative, and over the following decade plays a significant advocacy role contributing to the WHO's 2022 Fungal Priority Pathogens List.	United Kingdom, United States
2013	Classification	Blastomyces gilchristii	Blastomycosis	Genomic analysis reveals that blastomycosis can be caused by a second, genetically distinct species, Blastomyces gilchristii, named in honour of Thomas Caspar Gilchrist. This finding overturns nearly 120 years of assumption that B. dermatitidis was the sole causative agent, with B. helicus (reassigned from Emmonsia in 2017), B. percursus (2017), and B. emzantsi (2020) subsequently identified as additional species within an expanding genus.	International
2013	Discovery	Emergomyces africanus	Emergomycosis	Kenyon and collaborators describe a novel dimorphic fungus causing disseminated infection in South Africa, in a landmark New England Journal of Medicine report on HIV-infected patients with severe systemic disease. The organism is initially classified under the genus Emmonsia before subsequent phylogenetic analysis establishes it as the type species of a new genus, Emergomyces.	South Africa
2014	Classification	Lomentospora prolificans	Scedosporiosis	Lackner and collaborators propose a revised nomenclature for Pseudallescheria, Scedosporium, and related genera, formally reclassifying Scedosporium prolificans as Lomentospora prolificans within a newly erected genus, resolving decades of taxonomic instability surrounding the most antifungal-resistant member of this fungal group.	International
2014	Treatment	Cryptococcus neoformans	Cryptococcal meningitis	The Cryptococcal Optimal ART Timing (COAT) trial demonstrates improved survival in HIV-infected patients with cryptococcal meningitis when initiation of antiretroviral therapy is deferred for up to five weeks after diagnosis, compared with immediate initiation within one to two weeks — establishing the evidence-based standard of delaying ART for at least four weeks after starting antifungal therapy to reduce mortality associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome.	International
2015	Publication	Aspergillus	Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis	The European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS), with the European Confederation of Medical Mycology, publish the first comprehensive international clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, estimated to affect approximately 3 million people worldwide as a complication of tuberculosis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, and sarcoidosis.	International
2016	Organization	—	Mycetoma	The World Health Organization formally recognises mycetoma as a neglected tropical disease, marking the first global institutional acknowledgment of the disease's public health burden and paving the way for subsequent surveillance, research funding, and prioritisation efforts.	International
2017	Classification	Emergomyces	Emergomycosis	Dukik and collaborators formally establish the genus Emergomyces within the family Ajellomycetaceae, based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses demonstrating that several species previously placed under Emmonsia are more closely related to Emergomyces and Blastomyces. This taxonomic revision renders the genus Emmonsia largely obsolete and establishes a coherent framework for the family's emerging thermally dimorphic pathogens, with seven species ultimately recognised: E. africanus, E. canadensis, E. crescens, E. europaeus, E. orientalis, E. pasteurianus, and the non-pathogenic E. sola.	International
2018	Discovery	Emergomyces canadensis	Emergomycosis	Schwartz and collaborators describe Emergomyces canadensis as a novel dimorphic fungus causing fatal systemic disease in North America, demonstrating that emergomycosis is not confined to Africa but represents a globally emerging group of pathogens.	Canada
2020	Discovery	Cystobasidium minutum	—	Inácio and collaborators report the first documented bloodstream infection caused by Cystobasidium minutum in a cancer patient, establishing this previously environmental basidiomycetous yeast as an emerging rare opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised hosts.	International
2021	Outbreak	Rhizopus arrhizus	Mucormycosis	During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, over 45,000 cases and 4,300 deaths from COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM) are reported between April and July 2021, representing an unprecedented epidemic of the disease popularly known as "black fungus." The outbreak is driven by a convergence of factors including uncontrolled diabetes — present in 94% of cases — excessive and inappropriate corticosteroid use for COVID-19 treatment, and prolonged intensive care unit stays. India contributes approximately 71% of global CAM cases, and the Indian government declares mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. The epidemic highlights the role of immunosuppression as the dominant risk factor for mucormycosis and raises global awareness of the intersection between viral pandemics and invasive fungal infections.	India
2022	Discovery	Cystobasidium calyptogenae	—	Karajacob, Goh, Kallarakkal, and Tay report the first isolation and identification of Cystobasidium calyptogenae from the oral samples of an elderly patient with angular cheilitis, adding a second species within this basidiomycetous yeast genus to the list of rare human pathogens.	International
2022	Publication	—	—	The World Health Organization publishes the first-ever Fungal Priority Pathogens List (FPPL), cataloguing 19 fungal pathogens classified into critical, high, and medium priority groups based on mortality, antifungal resistance, annual incidence, global distribution, and unmet research and development needs. Critical priority pathogens include Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Candida albicans. The list represents the first global systematic effort to prioritize fungal pathogens and drive research and public health responses, modelled on the WHO bacterial priority pathogen list published in 2017, and comes amid rising antifungal resistance and an expanding global immunocompromised population.	International
2023	Treatment	Madurella mycetomatis	Eumycetoma	Research finds that fosravuconazole — a triazole antifungal already approved and marketed as a cheap over-the-counter nail fungus treatment — is effective against eumycetoma, raising hopes for an affordable, accessible alternative to itraconazole in resource-limited endemic settings ahead of formal clinical trial results published the following year.	International
2023	Outbreak	Blastomyces dermatitidis	Blastomycosis	The largest-ever documented blastomycosis outbreak in United States history occurs at a paper mill in Escanaba, Michigan, with one death and nearly 100 people sickened by April 2023, drawing renewed public health attention to occupational and environmental exposure risks for the disease.	United States
2024	Treatment	Madurella mycetomatis	Eumycetoma	Fahal and collaborators conduct the first-ever randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial for eumycetoma, comparing weekly fosravuconazole against the standard daily itraconazole regimen in combination with surgery in Sudanese patients. Itraconazole achieves an 80% cure rate at 12 months in the modified intention-to-treat group, while two dose levels of fosravuconazole achieve 85% and 65% cure rates respectively, establishing the first robust comparative efficacy data for eumycetoma antifungal therapy and highlighting the potential of weekly dosing to improve treatment adherence in endemic, resource-limited settings.	Sudan
2024	Classification	Madurella mycetomatis, Falciformispora senegalensis	Eumycetoma	The World Health Organization lists eumycetoma as a high-priority fungal infection on its Fungal Priority Pathogens List, recognising the disease's substantial and underappreciated global health burden across the "mycetoma belt" spanning the tropics and subtropics between 15°S and 30°N latitude, where Sudan, Senegal, and India report the highest case numbers.	International

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by Sebastian Sanchez.

Check Detail construction for full timeline in timelines, Inclusion criteria for full timeline in timelines, and Representativeness of events in timelines.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

• FIXME

What the timeline is still missing

• Page numbers: The majority of rows citing Landaburu & Mujica (2016) still contain placeholders. These should be filled in by cross-referencing the physical book before the timeline is submitted for review.

• Single-source bias: A large portion of the timeline is based on a single Spanish-language textbook (Landaburu & Mujica 2016). While this source is authoritative for the Argentine and Latin American mycological tradition, it may underrepresent developments from Anglophone, European, and Asian mycology. Future enrichment should draw on sources such as Larone's Medically Important Fungi, Kwon-Chung & Bennett's Medical Mycology, and peer-reviewed journals including Medical Mycology, Journal of Fungi, and Mycoses.

• Antifungal resistance beyond Aspergillus: The timeline covers azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus (1998, 2007) and multidrug resistance in Candida auris (2009), but does not yet address fluconazole resistance in Candida glabrata and Candida krusei, or the emergence of echinocandin-resistant Candida strains in clinical settings.

• Dermatophyte terbinafine resistance: The recent global emergence of terbinafine-resistant Trichophyton indotineae, reported from the Indian subcontinent from around 2016 onward and subsequently in Europe and North America, represents a significant new clinical challenge not yet covered in the timeline.

• Molecular diagnostics beyond MALDI-TOF: PCR-based and next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches for fungal diagnosis, including panfungal PCR and metagenomic sequencing, are absent from the timeline despite representing a major recent development in clinical mycology.

• Fungal infections and climate change: The expanding geographic range of endemic mycoses such as coccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis in association with climate change is an emerging topic not yet represented.

• Antifungal drug pipeline: Novel antifungal agents currently in late-stage clinical trials — including olorofim (first-in-class dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitor), ibrexafungerp, and rezafungin — are absent and warrant inclusion once approved.

• African histoplasmosis and less-covered endemic mycoses: Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii (African histoplasmosis), Lacazia loboi veterinary cases beyond dolphins, and Emmonsia species are underrepresented or absent.

• Veterinary mycology: With the exception of the Lacazia loboi dolphin cases (1999) and the Sporothrix cat-to-human epidemic (1998–2004), veterinary mycology is largely absent from the timeline.