INDEX
• Dynamics: Life, death, recycling, and, Integrating.
• - Growth : Spores, filamentous, and hyphae variations.
• Symbiosis: Relationships for survival and optimization of life.
• Metabolism and properties of Fungi.
• Summary: Fungal Metabolites, Basic Concepts.
• Diseases : Fungal metabolism in host niches.
• Mycovirus: A Virus that infects & spreads between fungi.
• Research: Secondary Metabolism and Fungal Development.
• - Article : Secondary Metabolites and their Environmental Selection.
• Detoxing: Removing heavy metals with fungi.
• Surviving: A Candida-Heavy Metals dynamic.

• - BLOG: Fungal Genetics Conference Q&A
• Article : The Metabolism of the fungus Candida Albicans.
• - Q & A: What's the effect of NaCl on fungal metabolism?
• Balance: Progesterone is an anti-fungal hormone.

• - Profile: Aspergillosis.
• - Profile: Candida.
• - Profile: Pneumonia.
• - Profile: Tuberculosis.
• Glossary: Mycology Terms to assist you.

• Insight: Fungal-Insect relationships can be co-beneficial, or not.
• Insight: Transmission of mycoviruses is normally confined.
• Insight: When do toxins become protection ingredients?
• Insight: Internal ammonia symptoms not uncommon to us.
• Insight: Iodine-Glutathione treatment may prove most economical.

• -Focus-: Monographs on Toxins and Enhancers.

Dynamics: Life, death, recycling, and, Integrating. INDEX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus

Understanding fungal metabolism can sustain, enhance, burden, threaten, or save your health and life.
Useful and constructive forms of fungi can become toxic, poisonous, and, fatal. The environment they exist in and the ecology they interact in can expose them to stresses which support genetic mutations ... a factor which is shared by many lifeforms including humans. That includes our extensive pollution (concentration of toxins) of all Earth environments, increasingly, during the past 200 years.

Awareness, knowledge, discernment, respect, and choice can best prepare you for an optimized life. Sharing such skills and tools with spouse, children, friends, associates, and others in humanity can spread the benefits and make your own efforts easier and more efficient. Take the advantage yourself first. Don't expect interest or appreciation from others. They have been taught and imprinted to look away to authorities and abandon their freedom of self-directedness and self-responsibility.

A fungus (plural: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from the other eukaryotic life kingdoms of plants and animals.

A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls.
Similar to animals, fungi are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesise. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems.

Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals including humans.

The human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history.
Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. Because of the capacity of fungi to produce an enormous range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological interactions, many species have long been used or are being developed for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering drugs. More recently, methods have been developed for genetic engineering of fungi, enabling metabolic engineering of fungal species. For example, genetic modification of yeast species -- which are easy to grow at fast rates in large fermentation vessels -- has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms.

Fungi are used extensively to produce industrial chemicals like citric, gluconic, lactic, and malic acids, and industrial enzymes, such as lipases used in biological detergents, cellulases used in making cellulosic ethanol and stonewashed jeans, and amylases, invertases, proteases and xylanases. Several species, most notably Psilocybin mushrooms (colloquially known as magic mushrooms), are ingested for their psychedelic properties, both recreationally and religiously.

As it is difficult to accurately identify a safe mushroom without proper training and knowledge, it is often advised to assume that a wild mushroom is poisonous and not to consume it.

Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals.
Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.

While one of the most prolific forms of life on the Earth, humanity has studied much about fungi yet know very little in comparison to their knowledge of other lifeforms. The global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood. A 2017 estimate suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species. Of these, only about 120,000 have been described, with over 8,000 species known to be detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans. The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles -- cellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules -- called the Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells. There are also single-celled fungi (yeasts) that do not form hyphae, and some fungi have both hyphal and yeast forms.

As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building blocks. Fungi produce several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by plants. Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants.

Parasites.
Many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi.
Serious pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, tree pathogens such as Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi causing Dutch elm disease and Cryphonectria parasitica responsible for chestnut blight, and plant pathogens in the genera Fusarium, Ustilago, Alternaria, and Cochliobolus. Some carnivorous fungi, like Paecilomyces lilacinus, are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures such as constricting rings or adhesive nets. Many fungi that are plant pathogens, such as Magnaporthe oryzae, can switch from being biotrophic (parasitic on living plants) to being necrotrophic (feeding on the dead tissues of plants they have killed).

Disease origins to mammals.
Some fungi can cause serious diseases in humans, several of which may be fatal if untreated.
These include aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, mycetomas, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Persons with immuno-deficiencies (frequently from heavy metal and other toxins concentrated in the environment by human sourced pollution) are particularly susceptible to disease by genera such as Aspergillus, Candida, Cryptoccocus, Histoplasma, and Pneumocystis. Other fungi can attack eyes, nails, hair, and especially skin, the so-called dermatophytic and keratinophilic fungi, and cause local infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot. Fungal spores are also a cause of allergies, and fungi from different taxonomic groups can evoke allergic reactions.

Biotoxins.
Many fungi produce biologically active compounds, several of which are toxic to animals or plants and are therefore called mycotoxins. Of particular relevance to humans are mycotoxins produced by molds causing food spoilage, and poisonous mushrooms. Particularly infamous are the lethal amatoxins in some Amanita mushrooms, and ergot alkaloids, which have a long history of causing serious epidemics of ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) in people consuming rye or related cereals contaminated with sclerotia of the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Other notable mycotoxins include the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by certain Aspergillus species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes (e.g., T-2 mycotoxin) and fumonisins, which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or natural products), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins may provide fitness benefits in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from consumption (fungivory). Many fungal secondary metabolites (or derivatives) are used medically.

Growth: Spores, filamentous, and hyphae variations. INDEX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus

The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues. They can exert large penetrative mechanical forces; for example, many plant pathogens, including Magnaporthe grisea, form a structure called an appressorium that evolved to puncture plant tissues. The pressure generated by the appressorium, directed against the plant epidermis, can exceed 8 megapascals (1,200 psi). The filamentous fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus uses a similar structure to penetrate the eggs of nematodes.

... hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment to digest large organic molecules -- such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids -- into smaller molecules that may then be absorbed as nutrients. The vast majority of filamentous fungi grow in a polar fashion (extending in one direction) by elongation at the tip (apex) of the hypha. Other forms of fungal growth include intercalary extension (longitudinal expansion of hyphal compartments that are below the apex) as in the case of some endophytic fungi, or growth by volume expansion during the development of mushroom stipes and other large organs. ...

The fungi are traditionally considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a high degree of metabolic versatility that allows them to use a diverse range of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds such as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. In some species the pigment melanin may play a role in extracting energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation. This form of "radiotrophic" growth has been described for only a few species, the effects on growth rates are small, and the underlying biophysical and biochemical processes are not well known. This process might bear similarity to CO2 fixation via visible light, but instead uses ionizing radiation as a source of energy.

Symbiosis: Relationships for survival and optimization of life. INDEX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus

Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant–fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in mycorrhizal relationships with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival.

Mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating to at least 400 million years ago.
It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients.The fungal partners may also mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks". A special case of mycorrhiza is myco-heterotrophy, whereby the plant parasitizes the fungus, obtaining all of its nutrients from its fungal symbiont. Some fungal species inhabit the tissues inside roots, stems, and leaves, in which case they are called endophytes. Similar to mycorrhiza, endophytic colonization by fungi may benefit both symbionts; for example, endophytes of grasses impart to their host increased resistance to herbivores and other environmental stresses and receive food and shelter from the plant in return.

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria.
... Lichens occur in every ecosystem on all continents, play a key role in soil formation and the initiation of biological succession, and are prominent in some extreme environments, including polar, alpine, and semiarid desert regions. They are able to grow on inhospitable surfaces, including bare soil, rocks, tree bark, wood, shells, barnacles and leaves. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont (algae) provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus provides minerals and water to the photobiont. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism; in most cases the resulting organism differs greatly from the individual components. Lichenization is a common mode of nutrition for fungi; around 20% of fungi -- between 17,500 and 20,000 described species -- are lichenized. Characteristics common to most lichens include obtaining organic carbon by photosynthesis, slow growth, small size, long life, long-lasting (seasonal) vegetative reproductive structures, mineral nutrition obtained largely from airborne sources, and greater tolerance of desiccation than most other photosynthetic organisms in the same habitat.

Insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi.
Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Agaricales as their primary food source, while ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus Sirex) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus Amylostereum areolatum into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae. At least one species of stingless bee has a relationship with a fungus in the genus Monascus, where the larvae consume and depend on fungus transferred from old to new nests.

Termites on the African savannah are also known to cultivate fungi, and yeasts of the genera Candida and Lachancea inhabit the gut of a wide range of insects, including neuropterans, beetles, and cockroaches; it is not known whether these fungi benefit their hosts. Fungi ingrowing dead wood are essential for xylophagous insects (e.g. woodboring beetles). They deliver nutrients needed by xylophages to nutritionally scarce dead wood. Thanks to this nutritional enrichment the larvae of the woodboring insect is able to grow and develop to adulthood. The larvae of many families of fungicolous flies, particularly those within the superfamily Sciaroidea such as the Mycetophilidae and some Keroplatidae feed on fungal fruiting bodies and sterile mycorrhizae.

Metabolism and Properties of Fungi. INDEX
https://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/website/lects/fungi.htm
Computerized Teaching Materials for the Infectious Diseases Course at
A.T. Still University/Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU/KCOM)
Neal Chamberlain's look at the Microbial World
Lecture on "The Fungi"

The fungi are more evolutionarily advanced forms of microorganisms, as compared to the prokaryotes (prions, viruses, bacteria). They are classified as eukaryotes, i.e., they have a diploid number of chromosomes and a nuclear membrane and have sterols in their plasma membrane.

Fungi can be divided into two basic morphological forms, yeasts and hyphae.
Yeasts are unicellular fungi which reproduce asexually by blastoconidia formation (budding) or fission.
Hyphaeare multi-cellular fungi which reproduce asexually and/or sexually.
Dimorphism is the condition where by a fungus can exhibit either the yeast form or the hyphal form, depending on growth conditions. Very few fungi exhibit dimorphism. Most fungi occur in the hyphae form as branching, threadlike tubular filaments. ...

A mass of hyphal elements is termed the mycelium (synonymous with mold).
Aerial hyphae often produce asexual reproduction propagules termed conidia (synonymous with spores).
Relatively large and complex conidia are termed macroconidia while the smaller and more simple conidia are termed microconidia. When the conidia are enclosed in a sac (the sporangium), they are called endospores. The presence/absence of conidia and their size, shape and location are major features used in the laboratory to identify the species of fungus in clinical specimens.

All fungi are free living, i.e., they are not obligate intracellular parasites.
They do not contain chlorophyll and cannot synthesize macromolecules from carbon dioxide and energy derived from light rays.
Therefore all fungi are heterotrophs, living on preformed organic matter. For medical purposes the important aspects of fungal metabolism are:

1. The synthesis of chitin, a polymer of N-acetyl glucosamine, and other compounds, for use in forming the cell wall.
These induce immune hypersensitivity.

2. The synthesis of ergosterol for incorporation into the plasma membrane.
This makes the plasma membrane sensitive to those antimicrobial agents which either block the synthesis of ergosterol or prevent its incorporation into the membrane or bind to it, e.g. amphotericin B.

3. The synthesis of toxins such as

a. Ergot alkaloids - these are produced by Claviceps purpurea and cause an alpha adrenergic blockade

b. Psychotropic agents - these include psilocybin, psilocin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

c. Aflatoxins - these are carcinogens produced by Aspergillus flavus when growing on grain.
When these grains are eaten by humans or when they are fed to dairy cattle and they get into the milk supply, they (are toxic to) humans.

4. The synthesis of proteins on ribosomes that are different from those found in bacteria.
This makes the fungi immune to those antimicrobial agents that are directed against the bacterial ribosome, e.g., chloramphenicol.

5. The ability of certain metabolites to alter morphology of yeast and/or be assimilated by yeast with concomitant clinical identification affects.

... an ultraviolet lamp (Wood's lamp) can be used to detect fluorescent compounds produced by fungi growing in or on human tissue.

Summary: Fungal Metabolites, Basic Concepts. INDEX
http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0000360.html
Maurice O Moss, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Published online: August 2011

The fungi are a kingdom of organisms as complex and diverse as plants and animals with an estimated 1.5 million species, of which only about 10% have been named and described. ...

Key Concepts:

• Fungal secondary metabolism is both diverse and distinct.

• Secondary metabolism is linked to primary metabolism by a common pool of intermediates
  such as acetyl-CoA, mevalonate and amino acids.

• Penicillins, cephalosporins and griseofulvin are widely used antibiotics.

• Mycotoxins such as aflatoxin, ochratoxin and patulin are controlled in human foodstuffs by legislation.

• The majority of plants have endophytic fungi some of which produce useful metabolites.

Diseases: Fungal metabolism in host niches. INDEX
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369527409000538
Volume 12, Issue 4, August 2009, Pages 371-376
Matthias Brock

Invasive fungal infections of immunocompromised patients cause major problems in modern medicine and only a limited number of effective antifungals are available, making the identification of new drug targets a priority.

The inhibition of primary metabolism represents a promising therapeutic strategy, but a better understanding of the metabolic processes during pathogenesis is required.

Infection, invasion and maintenance within a host are very dynamic events and fungal metabolism has to adapt to these changes.

Glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and starvation all contribute to successful host colonisation, but the temporal and spatial resolution of their specific importance is poorly understood.

Knowledge about the metabolic requirements of pathogenic fungi during infection could lead to the identification of new classes of antifungals, which allow the treatment of otherwise life-threatening infections.

Mycovirus: A Virus that infects & spreads between fungi. INDEX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycovirus
LINK 2: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Fungal+virus
Fungal virus.
McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Bioscience. © 2002

LINK 3: https://shmoop.com/microorganisms-viruses/plant-fungus-viruses.html
Plant and Fungal Viruses by Shmoop Editorial Team
Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 16 May 2018.

To be a true mycovirus, they must demonstrate an ability to be transmitted - in other words be able to infect other healthy fungi. Many double stranded RNA elements that have been described in fungi do not fit this description, and in these cases they are referred to as virus like particles or VLPs.

Phenotypic effects of mycoviral infections can vary from advantageous to deleterious, but most of them are asymptomatic or cryptic. The connection between phenotype and mycovirus presence is not always straight forward. Several reasons may account for this.
First, the lack of appropriate infectivity assays often hindered the researcher from reaching a coherent conclusion.
Secondly, mixed infection or unknown numbers of infecting viruses make it very difficult to associate a particular phenotypic change with the investigated virus.

Although most mycoviruses often do not seem to disturb their host’s fitness, this does not necessarily mean they are living unrecognized by their hosts. A neutral co-existence might just be the result of a long co-evolutionary process. Accordingly, symptoms may only appear when certain conditions of the virus-fungus-system change and get out of balance. This could be external (environmental) as well as internal (cytoplasmic). It is not known yet why some mycoviruses-fungus-combinations are typically detrimental while others are asymptomatic or even beneficial.

... harmful effects of mycoviruses are economically interesting, especially if the fungal host is a phytopathogen and the mycovirus could be exploited as biocontrol agent.

The best example is represented by the case of CHV1 and C. parasitica.
Other examples of deleterious effects of mycoviruses are the ‘La France’ disease of Agaricus biporus and the mushroom diseases caused by Oyster mushroom spherical virus and Oyster mushroom isometric virus.

In summary, the main negative effects of mycoviruses are:
• Decreased growth rate
• Lack of sporulation
• Attenuation of virulence
• Reduced germination of basidiospores

Hypovirulent phenotypes do not appear to correlate with specific genome features and it seems there is not one particular metabolic pathway causing hypovirulence but several. In addition to negative effects, beneficial interactions do also occur.

Well described examples are the killer phenotypes in yeasts and Ustilago.
Killer isolates secrete proteins that are toxic to sensitive cells of the same or closely related species while the producing cells themselves are immune. Most of these toxins degrade the cell membrane. There are potentially interesting applications of killer isolates in medicine, food industry, and agriculture. A three-part system involving a mycovirus of an endophytic fungus (Curvularia protuberata) of the grass Dichanthelium lanuginosum has been described, which provides a thermal tolerance to the plant, enabling it to inhabit adverse environmental niches.

Mycoviruses are common in fungi (Herrero et al., 2009) and are found in all four phyla of the true fungi: Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.

Fungi are frequently infected with two or more unrelated viruses and also with defective dsRNA and/or satellite dsRNA.
There are also viruses that simply use fungi as vectors and are distinct from mycoviruses, because they cannot reproduce in the fungal cytoplasm.

It is generally assumed that the natural host range of mycoviruses is confined to closely related vegetability compatibility groups that allow for cytoplasmic fusion, but some mycoviruses can replicate in taxonomically different fungal hosts. Good examples are mitoviruses found in the two fungal species Sclerotinia homoeocarpa and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi.

Furthermore, Nuss et al. (2005) described that it is possible to extend the natural host range of Cryphonectria parasitica hypovirus 1 (CHV1) to several fungal species that are closely related to Cryphonectria parasitica using in vitro virus transfection techniques. CHV1 can also propagate in the genera Endothia and Valsa, which belong to the two distinct families Cryphonectriaceae and Diaporthaceae, respectively.

The first record of an economic impact of mycoviruses on fungi was recorded in cultivated mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) in the late 1940s and was called the La France disease. Hollings found more than three different types of viruses in the abnormal sporophores. This report marks the beginning of mycovirology.

The La France Disease is also known as X disease, watery stripe, dieback and brown disease.
Symptoms include:
• Reduced yield
• Slow and aberrant mycelial growth
• Waterlogging of tissue
• malformation
• Premature maturation
• Increased post-harvest deterioration (reduced shelf life)[6]

Mushrooms have shown no resistance to the virus, and so control has had to be via hygienic practises to stop the spread of the virus.

However, the best known mycovirus is Cryphonectria parasitica hypovirus 1 (CHV1).
CHV1 is exceptional amongst mycoviral research due its success as biocontrol agent against chestnut blight in Europe, but also because it is a model organism for studying hypovirulence in fungi. However, this system is only being used in Europe routinely, because of the relative small number of vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) on this continent. In contrast, in North America the distribution of the hypovirulent phenotype is often prevented because fungal hyphae cannot fuse and exchange their cytoplasmic content due to an incompatibility reaction. In the United States of America at least 35 VCGs were found. A similar situation seems to be present in China and Japan where 71 VCGs were identified so far.

Mycoviruses.
In general these viruses are spheres of 30 -- 45-nanometer diameter composed of multiple units of a single protein arranged in an icosahedral structure enclosing a genome of segmented double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA). Viruses are found in most species of fungi, where they usually multiply without apparent harm to the host.

Most fungal viruses are confined to closely related species in which they are transmitted only through sexual or asexual spores to progeny or by fusion of fungal hyphae (filamentous cells). Some fungal strains are infected with multiple virus species. Although hundreds of virus-containing fungi have been reported, very few have been studied in significant detail. Three families of mycoviruses are recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The most thoroughly studied mycoviruses are in the family Totiviridae.

Fungal viruses have the same problem as plant viruses, finding jeans that fit.
They also have the problem of getting through a cell wall. Fungi don't have the nutritional value of plants, so vector transmission is uncommon.

The transmission of fungal viruses is (uncommon) -- many of these viruses don't have genes for transmitting themselves from cell to cell. In fact, the narnavirus family doesn't even produce a capsid protein, as its replication cycle is completely intracellular. It is spread through spores in mating or vertically from mother to daughter cells. In essence, the fungal virus is lazy and lets the host do most the work of spreading itself around.

Research: Relationship between Secondary Metabolism and Fungal Development. INDEX
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC120793/
Journal List -- Microbiol Mol Biol Revv. 66(3); 2002 Sep PMC 120793
Ana M. Calvo, Richard A. Wilson, Jin Woo Bok, and Nancy P. Keller

Filamentous fungi are unique organisms -- rivaled only by actinomycetes and plants -- in producing a wide range of natural products called secondary metabolites. These compounds are very diverse in structure and perform functions that are not always known. However, most secondary metabolites are produced after the fungus has completed its initial growth phase and is beginning a stage of development represented by the formation of spores. ...

Butyrolactone I, an inhibitor of eukaryotic cyclin-dependent kinases produced by Aspergillus terreus, increases hyphal branching, sporulation, and production of another secondary metabolite, lovastatin, in this fungus. Butyrolactone-containing molecules act as self-regulating factors in some bacteria and control many biological functions such as antibiotic and virulence factor production. ...

The effect of melanin biosynthesis on the virulence of fungal human pathogens has also been studied.
In Aspergillus fumigatus, a cause of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients, spore pigment is a virulence factor. Disruption of the alb1 gene, which encodes a putative polyketide synthase, creates a pigmentless conidial phenotype and leads to a significant reduction in fungal infection of a murine model . ...

Most Aspergillus spp. propagate solely by asexual spores called conidia (e.g., Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus), while other species produce both conidia and sexual spores called ascospores (e.g., A. nidulans, teleomorph: Emericella nidulans). ...

For Aspergillus species that are problematic opportunistic pathogens of plants and animals (including humans), conidia serve as the major source of inoculum. ... The formation of conidiophores begins with a stalk that extends from a thick-walled foot cell. The tip of the stalk begins to swell, forming a vesicle. From the vesicle, cells called sterigmata are formed, and chains of conidia originate from the sterigmata. Genetic and molecular studies of conidial reproduction in A. nidulans identified a gene, brlA , that encodes a transcriptional regulator proposed to govern the activation of developmental genes at the time of vesicle formation. ...

Genes required for the synthesis of aflatoxin and sterigmatocystin are well conserved between aspergilli and are located in large gene clusters ...

The particular example of opposite regulation of sterigmatocystin and penicillin production in A. nidulans by the same signaling pathway allows us to speculate on the necessity of differential regulation when we consider that these two metabolites are also oppositely regulated by pH (penicillin is favored in alkali environments, and sterigmatocystin is favored in acidic environments).

Although penicillin is destroyed at low pHa, aflatoxin and sterigmatocystin are very stable molecules not affected by pH extremes. All three of these molecules are complex and incur a large energy cost. Aflatoxin is known to be toxic to insects, while penicillin is a renowned bactericidal antibiotic. ...

One could speculate that in their natural environment, Aspergillus spp. face more competition from bacteria in alkaline soils, while acidic soils are generally less populous in bacteria. Therefore, penicillin is produced during fungal development in alkaline environments to destroy its bacterial competition, while sterigmatocystin and aflatoxin secretion and accumulation in mycelial and sclerotial tissue in acidic environments provide protection against insects.

Penicillin and sterigmatocystin biosynthesis is temporal in nature, with penicillin biosynthetic gene transcription occurring earlier than stc gene transcription. This would ensure that penicillin is secreted into the environment first to kill off fast-growing prokaryotes, allowing the fungus to establish itself in the community. Later, penicillin production ceases and sterigmatocystin is produced to protect against eukaryotic competitors.

Article: Secondary Metabolites and their Environmental Selection. INDEX
http://bugs.bio.usyd.edu.au/learning/resources/Mycology/Feeding/secndryMetabolites.shtml
University of Sydney, School of Biological Sciences.
Last updated June, 2004 -- Kerem Daldal

Fungi produce a diversity of metabolites, many of which appear unnecessary for the primary function of the host.
However, many metabolites appear indirectly important, influencing fungal growth and survival.
The structure of secondary metabolites varies enormously. Some are produced quite widely, and others are specific to a single fungus. Marked differences in expression can even be found even within a single species, and the environment plays an important role in expression. ...

Secondary metabolites are compounds produced by an organism that are not required for primary metabolic processes.
Fungi produce an enormous array of secondary metabolites, some of which are important in industry. Many fungi express secondary metabolites that influence competitive outcomes. The compounds are expressed along with enzymes necessary for extracellular digestion. The precise function of many of these compounds in the natural environment, however, is unclear.

Some of the compounds released by fungi influence the organisms that interact with fungi leading to an anthropocentric interpretation of function in the fungus. Some metabolites, referred to as toxins, are compounds that have the potential to kill an organism at concentrations we might use. The activity of the metabolites in biological conditions may differ. ...

Primary and secondary metabolites may be confused.
Primary metabolites may accumulate as staling products slow growth of the fungus, or as essential nutrients are removed from the growth medium. Regulatory compounds may also appear as growth slows, and they can be confused with secondary metabolites.

Secondary metabolites are generally produced following active growth, and many have an unusual chemical structure.
Some metabolites are found in a range of related fungi, while others are only found in one or a few species. The restricted distribution implies a lack of general function of secondary metabolites in fungi.

Clear reasons exist for studying secondary metabolites.
Many have been found to have use in industry and medicine.
Indeed, 6 of the 20 most commonly prescribed medications for humans are of fungal origin.
These metabolites have been subjected to combinatorial chemistry following growth in selective media.
Some metabolites are toxic to humans and other animals.
Yet others can modify the growth and metabolism of plants.

Interestingly, the most important secondary metabolites seem to be synthesised from one or a combination of three biosynthetic pathways:

1. polyketides arising from Acetyl Coenzyme A,
2. mevalonate pathway that also arises from Acetyl Coenzyme A, and
3. from amino acids.

In addition, genes for the synthesis of some important secondary metabolites are found clustered together, and expression of the cluster appears to be induced by one or a few global regulators.

Some of the 'global regulators' are also involved with sporulation and hyphal elongation.
Thus the expression of secondary metabolites may be a normal part of and occur at a predictable point in the life cycle of some fungi.

Polyketide Metabolites
Polymerisation of acetate may result in the formation of a fatty acid or a polyketide.
Polyketides result when a primer other than acetate is included, and processing during chain elongation results in the inclusion of various other compounds. The chain may be further processed by cyclisation, lactonisation, or formation of thioesters or amides. The result is a staggering number of possible structures built from the simple primer units.

Included among the polyketide secondary metabolites are orsellinic acid, tetrahydroxynaphthalene (precursor for melanin), sterigmatocyctin, aflatoxins, statins, and fumonisin.

Aflotoxins are produced in members of the Aspergillus parasiticus group via the polyketide pathway.
The pathway has around 20 steps, and the end products include a diversity of related compounds (bisfuranocoumarins) that can be readily converted one to another.

Aflatoxin B1 is one of the most toxic compounds known.
The toxin is formed commonly in plant materials held at relatively high moisture and temperature for long periods (ie growth in tropics and sub-tropics). Peanuts, corn and cotton are readily contaminated in the field. The Aspergillus parasiticus group of fungi are common in soil. The fungi can colonise roots and spread through the plant. When harvested, contaminated seed will become toxic if not dried immediately and held in a dry form.

Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic.
The LSD 50 for ducks is 0.33 mg/kg.
At lower levels and following prolonged exposure, the toxins cause liver cancer in humans.
Aflatoxin B1 is converted to Aflatoxin M (in milk) on passage through cows. Though less toxic, it does illustrate the potential damage caused by consumption of contaminated product.

Aflatoxicosis first came to note in the west when contaminated peanut meal was fed to turkeys in the UK.
Since then, chickens, pigs and cattle have also been severely affected by consumption of contaminated feed.
All peanuts are now screened for the presence of the toxins.

The function of aflatoxins in fungi is unknown.
Toxicosis only takes place after consumption of the contaminated plant material.
Animals tend to avoid contaminated feed, but as B1 is so highly toxic, even large animals can be killed by small, almost undetectable quantities.

Structure of Patulin.
Patulin is a polyketide antibiotic synthesised on an acetate/malonate pathway.
Its biosynthetic pathway is still unclear, but it appears that several alternate pathways may result in the same end product. Further, several related compounds may be produced from minor variations of the cultural conditions.

Patulin was first thought to be a potential antibiotic.
However, it is now also known to be a compound produced by Penicillium expansum in contaminated apples.
Patulin associated with storage rot of apples, and it is toxic to mammals.
Patulin illustrates the close relationship between anthropogenic benefits and detriments.

The role of patulin in rotting apples seems unclear, but it may be a general inhibitor of competitors, including mammals and microbes. One speculative explanation indicates coevolution between the plant and fungus, that is colonised apples have a greater chance of producing seed that germinates. However, the life cycle of apples tends to be decades, that of the fungus much shorter. The disparity in the length of the life cycle between organisms associated with fungi and the fungus is common. The disparity makes it difficult to argue for the co-evolution of the associated organisms.

Cyclic compounds can be synthesised via the polyketide or shikimic acid pathways.
Zearalenone is one interesting example from this group.
The compound regulates perithecium formation in the fungus.
It also has an oestrogenic effect in mammals.

The reproductive behaviour of pigs consuming feed contaminated with Fusarium graminearum may be modified.
Consumption of high doses of zearalenone is commonly detrimental to pigs, but the compound has also been used deliberately at low doses as a growth supplement in sheep and cattle.

F. graminearum is a common hyphomycete found in soil.
Some isolates are widely recognised as important plant pathogens in temperate and warm temperate climates.
Thus contamination of feeds is likely to be widespread where there is poor control over humidity during storage.
The main function of the compound appears to be its role in perithecium formation.
The effect on mammals appears to be entirely coincidental.

Amino Acid Pathway
Penicillin and cephalosporin are ß lactam antibiotics.
ß lactam antibiotics are produced by a few Ascomycota and several bacteria.
The precursors of these antibiotics are amino acids. Synthesis of active antibiotics is directed by the inclusion in the growth medium of different organic and fatty acids resulting in different side chains on the compound.

A second group of antibiotics derived from the amino acid pathway are the defensins.
Defensins are peptides that act against bacteria. They are found in animals where they function to protect organs such as the gingiva where bacterial densities are very high. The first defensin found in fungi has been called plectasin. The role of plectasin in its host Pseudoplectania nigrella is unknown.

Toxins derived from amino acid synthesis include psilocybin (Psilocybe) and Bufotenine (Amanita).
These compounds act on nerve impulses, resulting in hallucinations.
The result is thought to be due to the similarities between the compounds and serotonin.

The fungus Amanita.
Amatoxins (Amanita) are cyclic peptides that act on RNA synthesis in all eukaryotic organisms.
They are extremely toxic. They are particularly dangerous because their effect does not become evident until 24 to 48 hours after ingestion.

Combination of Pathways
Ergot alkaloids are synthesised from several pathways.
Trypotophan from the shikimic acid pathway is attached to an isoprenoid moiety from the mevalonate pathway, and several amino acids from primary metabolism are added depending on the final product. Ergot alkaloids are produced as a complex mixture of related compounds from a branched pathway.

The activity of the alkaloids is as varied as the compounds.
In essence, the compounds may function as vasodilators, hormone regulators, and feeding deterrents.
They can be active in mammals and insects. Their function in the fungus is unclear, but theories about coevolution of the fungi and their grass hosts are based on the benefit of the toxins in selecting grasses that deter herbivory. The role of the toxins in the fungi are, otherwise, almost inexplicable.

Given the importance of amino acids in the synthesis of alkaloids, it follows that nitrogen nutrition of the fungi is important.
Carbon/nitrogen balance, carbon source, availability of precursors, and repression by excess of regulators such as ammonium are important both in industry (ergotamine) and in colonised grasses. However, the regulation of other secondary metabolites is as varied as their structures.

Plant Growth Regulators
Many pathogenic and benign fungi produce auxin, cytokinins, gibberellins and abscisic acid.
In fact the gibberlellins were first found in the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, a pathogen that causes tall, straggly growth of rice.
The gibberellins are diterpenes produced by the mevalonate/isoprenoid pathway. The function of these compounds in fungi that colonise plants seem clear. Modification of host tissue enhances colonisation, releases nutrients for fungal metabolism and regulates host reproduction. The function of plant growth regulation in fungi found outside plants is unclear.

Some plant fungi appear to modify host production of growth regulators, resulting in alterations of host metabolism.
For instance, initiation of AM in roots results in a slowing of root tip elongation and increase in lateral formation. The cause may be associated with a change in concentrations of auxins and/or cytokinins from the fungus or induced in the host, an increase in local concentration of phosphate due to the fungi, or a factor influenced by either. LINK Increases in expression of plant hormones may be direct or indirect. Resolution of the identity and importance of the fungal compounds remains.

In general, toxins associated with fruiting bodies are important because consumption of the fruiting body can result in poisoning.
Toxins associated with microfungi are important because they become evident after consumption of contaminated food. The principles of toxicosis are the same, though the topics of toxin fungi and toxic foods are commonly separated. In addition, toxins are produced from a myriad of pathways, and have enormously diverse effects. That they may be produced at a different point in the life cycle of a fungus is simply another aspect of the complex subject.

Structure of Sporodesmin.
The function of toxins to fungi has been subject of much speculation.
Colonisation (contamination) of organic materials is a prelude to the digestion of the material by the fungus.
The production and expression of toxins is one mechanism the microbe has to protect the food, provided competitors detect the presence of the microbe and toxin. The conditioned response to the fungus thus reduces the consumption of the fungal substrate. The “detection” molecule may be other than the toxin. Objectionable flavours and smells may thus be warnings to competitors. Overall, the resultant reduction of feeding increases the chances of the fungi surviving.

Structure of Vomitoxin.
This hypothesis fits neatly into the Plant Defence theory.
The theory predicts that plants allocate defences only if they provide improved fitness.
The presence of fungi in plants has been suggested to be due to their production of defence and deterrence compounds.
Colonised plants would thus be relatively protected from herbivory and produce more offspring in the next generation. The fungi would be provided with a home and nutrients, and in a position to colonise the subsequent generation. Further, fungi are able to evolve new and more appropriate deterrents more rapidly than plants being under greater selection pressure, and having shorter generation times. The result is suggested to explain the relationship between grasses, which have few defences, and the Balansioid fungi.

Needless to say, those animals that have evolved the capacity to detect the toxins or to detoxify them, will have a selective advantage. This has reached its most advanced state in the insects. Some species require toxins in their diet, or feed only from plants containing toxins. Further, some microbes in the GIT of animals have evolved the capacity to detoxify metabolites. The relationship between microbes and their hosts, and the organisms with which they interact is complex and yet to be explained. The role of fungi in this process of coevolution has not been clarified.

Detoxing: Removing heavy metals with fungi. INDEX
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852498001928
Removal of heavy metals using the fungus Aspergillus niger
Authors: AnoopKapoora, TViraraghavana, D.RoyCullimoreb
Bioresource Technology
Volume 70, Issue 1, October 1999, Pages 95-104

Microorganisms are known to remove heavy metal ions from water.
In this study the potential of the fungus Aspergillus niger to remove lead, cadmium, copper and nickel ions was evaluated.
A. niger biomass pretreated by boiling in 0.1N NaOH solution for 15 min exhibited higher lead, cadmium and copper removal capacities than did live biomass. Live A. niger biomass was found to be more effective in the removal of nickel than biomass which had been boiled in 0.1N NaOH solution for 15 min.

The pH of the solution strongly affected the degree of biosorption of heavy metal ions on biomass pretreated by boiling in 0.1N NaOH solution. Biosorption of metal ions was inhibited at pH 3.0, and sharply increased when the pH of the solution was increased to 4.0. Biosorption of lead and cadmium reached equilibrium in 5 h, and equilibrium was reached in 6 and 8 h for copper and nickel, respectively.

Biosorption of heavy metals on pretreated biomass followed the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models, except at pH 4.0 for lead, cadmium and copper and at pH 5.0 for nickel. The removal of lead, cadmium and copper ions by pretreated A. niger biomass was higher than the removal obtained using granular activated carbon (F-400).

Removals of lead, cadmium and copper ions were lower when present together in solution in comparison with the removals obtained when these metal ions were present individually in solution. The biosorbed metal ions were effectively eluted by 0.05N HNO3 solution. After eluting, the biosorbed metal ions biomass was regenerated by washing with deionized water and then contacted with a solution containing 0.1M of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ ions before further adsorption tests. The pretreated A. niger biomass could be used for five cycles of biosorption – elution of biosorbed ion – regeneration of biomass.

This research showed that fungal biosorption had a potential to be used in the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewaters.

Comment:
Perhaps fungi in the human body also provides a possible benefit in removing - chelating heavy metal toxic presence, either from blood circulation, and/or from some organ tissues.

Surviving: A Candida-Heavy Metals dynamic. INDEX
http://candidaspecialists.com/heavy-metal-toxicity-candida-overgrowth-yeast-infections/

LINK 2: https://www.nourishingplot.com/2013/12/12/five-factors-that-perpetuate-candida/
Five Factors That Perpetuate Candida
Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath,
GAPS who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. --- December 12, 2013

LINK 3: https://www.peak-health-now.com/
candida-yeast-and-heavy-metals-discussion.html
Candida Yeast and Heavy Metals, Is There a Connection?
by Brendan --- 2008?

LINK 4: https://owndoc.com/candida-albicans/candida-heavy-metals-mercury/
Candida and heavy metals such as mercury.
by Sarah Vaughter, UK

We each have a constructive form of Candida in our intestines which assists in our digestion and assimilation.
As is true of some other fungi and lifeforms, when our gut pH level and biome change under the influence of the stress of negative emotions, high levels of toxins, or excessive or deficient levels of nutritionals ... those lifeforms can mutate into destructive forms. Candida mutates into Candida Albicans. The presence of parasites is encouraged and assimilation and metabolic dynamics are sabotaged.

Heavy metal toxicity can cause or contribute to health issues many people experience such as candida overgrowth, chronic fatigue, pain and brain fog. Common misconceptions about toxic heavy metals often lead to wrong treatment and health complications. Knowing how to recognize the heavy metal toxicity issue, detoxify the toxic heavy metals correctly and avoid exposure to heavy metals is essential, and can prevent unnecessary discomforts and further health complications.

The problem with toxic heavy metals starts when they accumulate in the body to a point they damage the body.
The body is not designed and in many cases can’t eliminate these toxic metals effectively. What this means is that without specific heavy metal detox treatment, these toxic metals (may) stay in your body and keep creating problems.

Heavy metal toxicity has become very common due to frequent usage of heavy metals in our daily life which increases our exposure to heavy metals. From cookware, environmental pollution, or medical procedures that use toxic metals such as mercury fillings, toxic heavy metals can be found everywhere.

There is a growing (amount) of evidence that links between toxic heavy metals and candida overgrowth.
While this connection needs to be further studied in order to understand it better, many health experts believe toxic heavy metals contribute to candida overgrowth and yeast infections due to the following reasons:

Toxic heavy metals disrupt the gut flora
In a healthy state, the good bacteria in the gut limits candida from (mutating and) overgrowing.
Toxic heavy metals can damage the healthy bacteria in the gut and disturb the good bacteria – candida balance; with less good bacteria to control candida’s growth, candida as an opportunistic (mutatable) organism changes into a more aggressive fungal form that spreads and releases over 80 different toxins. These toxins can get anywhere in the body, suppress the immune system and cause a wide variety of health issues and yeast infections all over the body.

Candida can bind to heavy metals
Some evidence suggests that candida and other yeasts can bind to certain toxic heavy metals and prevents them from entering the bloodstream. This ability of candida (may) protects the body but may also (enable) candida to overgrow which leads to yeast infection issues in the body.

The bottom line
Heavy metal toxicity can prevent the body from healing (rebalancing) candida overgrowth and in many cases can make the yeast infections become worse. If you have candida overgrowth and toxic heavy metals issues, the heavy metal toxicity should be treated as well as the candida overgrowth. In our practice, we see many cases of patients with a long history of “stubborn” candida overgrowth and yeast infections that couldn’t be healed. Only when the heavy metal toxicity problem was addressed, the candida overgrowth became easier to manage. This is very common in people that have mercury fillings or a known exposure to mercury.

1) Candida protects the body from heavy metal toxicity.
Candida surrounds metals in the body, encompassing them, in an effort to protect the body from foreign metals.
If heavy metal toxicity remains present in the body the Candida will not leave.
“Overgrowth of Candida is often due to heavy metal toxicity (such as mercury gradually leaching from silver fillings).
Swiss research shows that Candida actually helps protect the body against heavy metal toxicity. Rather than trying to ‘kill’ the Candida, the best therapy is to clear the heavy metals and toxic dental work (all metals) so the Candida can return to normal levels in the body,” says pH Pure. This belief is not accepted by all practitioners.

NCBI (US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health ) says,
“To study this, Candida biofilms were grown either in microtiter plates containing gradient arrays of metal ions.”
They go on to say, “More than 200 species of Candida have been identified, many of which are prevalent in rich soil and aquatic habitats that have been polluted with heavy metals.”

4) Candida (Albicans) can exist in a dormant stage for years but when fed comes alive stronger. OR
healthy Candida can be mutated once again, under stress, into Candida Albicans.
The US National Library of Medicine published a study where,
“Flow cytometry light scattering was used to monitor size increase of Candida Albicans (isolate ATCC 10231) cells in the presence or absence of the antifungal drug amphotericin B (AmB).” They concluded, “This non-invasive and descriptive method allowed for the differentiation of dead and dormant sub-populations of cells,” where they say, “observations indicate that this renewed cell proliferation was due to the reawakening of dormant cells.”

It is necessary to eliminate and flush out dead Candida spores, not just stop feeding Candida.

- BLOG -: Fungal Genetics Conference Q&A
– secondary metabolism in filamentous fungi. INDEX
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2017/06/22/
fungal-genetics-conference-qa-secondary-metabolism-in-filamentous-fungi/
Sietske Grijseels 22 Jun 2017

Sietske Grijseels is a PhD candidate at the
Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine
at the Technical University of Denmark.
Her research focuses on secondary metabolism in filamentous fungi.

... These types of bio-active compounds that are produced by filamentous fungi are categorized as secondary metabolites; compounds that are not essential for growth and development of the fungus, but which often play an important role in interspecies interactions. ...

During my studies at the Technical University of Delft, I learned to see micro-organisms as (cell) factories that can produce all kinds of chemicals for us. In Delft I mainly worked with yeast as a cell factory, but when I learned more about filamentous fungi and their great capacity to produce enzymes, organic acids and secondary metabolites I was intrigued. ...

Article: The Metabolism of the Fungus Candida Albicans.
and the resulting Metabolites Produced during the Process. INDEX
http://blog.probacto.com/the-metabolism-of-the-fungus-candida-albicans
-and-the-resulting-metabolites-produced-during-the-process/
Written by Sean Brookwood, Published on October 17, 2013

Metabolism is the biochemical assimilation as well as the dissimilation of vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients by a cell.
Metabolites are the substances that are produced by and during the process of metabolism or by a metabolic process.

Metabolites can be described as the compounds which are synthesized by plants or animals for uses such as growth as well as for protection against other plants and animals. ... Metabolites are completely responsible for the breakdown of all foods as well as the chemicals and other substances. During the process of metabolism, these substances are changed into energy as well as substances which are needed for health, growth, and the reproduction of each individual cell. Metabolism can also act as a removal tool used for removing various potentially dangerous and toxic substances from a body or plant.

Metabolism can be described as the entirety of all chemical reactions which are involved during the maintenance of cells and organisms. There’s a definite link between metabolism and nutrition which includes the availability of nutrients from the substances which are taken in or ingested by a plant or animal.

Positive Metabolites:
If you’ve read very much about treating a Candida overgrowth, you probably know that many fatty acid metabolites are beneficial during a Candida treatment; these include the acid metabolites of vitamin C as well as the acid-producing bacteria such as the lactic acid bacteria which are the bacteria responsible for the fermentation of foods or liquids. The reason that these bacteria are beneficial during a Candida albicans treatment is because the acid which they produce is a metabolite that is capable of turning off the fungal gene of Candida, thus preventing the benign Candida yeast from changing into the fungus we know as Candida albicans.

Metabolites of Lactic Acid Bacteria:
Butyric acid is a metabolite or substance produced by lactic acid bacteria.
During research studies, these bacteria have shown the ability to inhibit the germination of Candida albicans.
The word “germination” refers to the act of developing and or growing. Overall, these fatty acid metabolites of lactic acid bacteria produce a reaction which prevents the growth and development of Candida albicans. Lactic acid bacteria are found in kefir and commercial probiotics.

Negative Metabolites:
Tartaric acid is a highly toxic by-product or metabolite of Candida albicans.
It was shown in research studies that children who suffer from autism as well as children and adults who suffer from a Candida albicans or yeast overgrowth contain notably higher concentrations of tartaric acid in their urine than those who do not have a yeast or fungal Candida problem. The measure of tartaric acid in children with autism will often show their urine content of tartaric acid to be 400-600 times the amount of children without autism. It’s reasonable to assume that the tartaric acid measure would be higher in those who have a Candida overgrowth.

In addition, sufferers of Fibromyalgia who were tested for tartaric acid have shown up to 50 times the normal level of tartaric acid in their blood than the normal adult.

Acetaldehyde:
... Candida albicans produce as many as 79 different toxins, but one of these toxins is called acetaldehyde which is a very toxic substance to human beings. If you have a Candida infestation and have treated it to any degree, then you probably know “acetaldehyde” by its more common description of die-off toxins or Herxheimer Syndrome. These toxins generally occur as the Candida albicans are being destroyed by a Candida diet or by treating the infestation with antifungals or probiotics.

Ethanol:
Another metabolite produced during the metabolism of Candida albicans is ethanol (alcohol).
Concerning this metabolite, there is a medical term by the name of “auto-brewery syndrome” which can occur when too much of the ethanol is produced in the body by Candida albicans or another form of fungus. A person who has auto-brewery syndrome is described as having a fully functioning “brewery” operating in his or her intestines 24 hours a day, or as long as there’s sugar or carbohydrates available for fermentation by an overgrowth of a fungus such as Candida albicans. The results of auto-brewery are normally the feeling of being drunk or of experiencing a hangover and all the symptoms of a hangover. This syndrome is usually accompanied by other symptoms which are normally experienced during a Candida infestation of the body. The symptoms of auto-brewery syndrome may decrease or increase and become more severe as the population of size of the Candida infestation grows to larger proportions due to specific foods being ingested by the human host.

Ammonia:
Ammonia is another metabolite produced during the metabolism of Candida albicans.
This toxic substance as well as ethanol is basically produced in order to change the environment inside the intestines to a more hospitable environment for the Candida albicans to survive and reproduce. Ammonia is another of the many causes of the long list of symptoms which stem from the metabolites of the Candida albicans infestation inside the human body.

Symptoms of Internal Ammonia Poisonong.
• Low level of alertness.
• Feeling dizzy, lack of coordinated movement, feeling restless.
• Skin irritation and red patches.
• Severe abdominal or stomach pain.
  --- There is no antidote for ammonia poisoning.

- Q & A -: What's the effect of NaCl on fungal metabolism? INDEX
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Whats_the_effect_of_NaCl_on_fungal_metabolism

Kartikeya Rajpal
Amity University
How does NaCl affects the metabolism of a fungi?
NaCl up to a certain concentration promotes fungal growth whereas at higher concentration inhibits it. ...

Imran Ali
Chulalongkorn University
Well its a normal phenomenon, any metabolically acceptable mineral in low or adequate amount will be useful and its excess amount will be bad e.g. hypercalcemia in our body etc. Same is the case for fungi too.

Well about higher (filamentous) fungi, people have not studied the affect of NaCl much, but to the level of yeast, especially on halophilic yeast there are publications available particularly on Hortaea werneckii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, etc.

Mostly the high salt creates the low water activity in the cells of fungi which slows down the flow of transportation in and outside fungal cells. In halophilic yeast some bio-compatible solutes helps to maintain the balance of materials inside and outside yeasts.

I am working on obligate halophilic fungi, which cant grow without NaCl, and quite a high concentration helps their metabolic machinery such as enzymes. These come out to be more interesting case than normal halophilic organisms. We are still working to see how they do so.

Maria V. Kozlova
State Oceanographic Institute

Dear Kartikeya,
The mechanisms may be quite different, depending on species and ecological features of the fungal organism We study NaCl and pH effect to filamentous fungi .. you may see following publications provided by me and my colleagues

• LINK: Article: Sodiomyces alkalinus, a new holomorphic alkaliphilic ascomyc...
  The fungal kingdom is highly diverse and versatile, with members able to grow under various environmental conditions.
  Although the majority of fungi are considered as neutrophiles, showing optimal growth in moderate habitats (e.g. 25–30 °C, pH 5–7), some of them have adapted to thrive in extreme environments where abiotic conditions are so harsh that most organisms cannot survive. One such stressful condition is high alkalinity, to which some fungi have become adapted. Alkaliphilic fungi, i.e. fungi that are capable of growing at high pH, above pH 9 (Horikoshi 1999), have been little studied. ... The natural habitats for this kind of fungi are believed to be soda soils and soda lakes, as are often encountered in arid and semi-arid areas. ... Besides these natural sites, there are also sites created by human industrial processes like concrete and paper manufacture. These industries are known to create alkaline wastes that are potential habitats for alkaliphilic fungi (Mueller et al. 2004). Already in 1923, Johnson (1923) showed the ability of Fusarium oxysporum, F. bullatum and Penicillium variabile to grow at the extremely high pH of 11.

  General knowledge of alkaliphilic filamentous fungi is extremely poor. ...
  The inability to form perceptible colonies on cellulose and chitin at both pH values is unexpected, as these polymers seem to be the abundantly available substrates in soda soils and lakes. ...
  
  

• LINK: Article: On the diversity of fungi from soda soils
  Nature possesses ample variation in environmental niches with diverse abiotic conditions.
  In some locations, abiotic factors (such as temperature, ion content and pH) may deviate from those of most habitats, resulting in the formation of specific zones termed ‘extreme habitats’ restricting growth of most organisms. Soda soils (or alkaline soils) with high pH values (>8) represent an example of such extreme habitats. They usually develop in arid and semi-arid lands throughout the world, and may vary in salt concentrations from low to saturation. ... With few exceptions, soda soils usually are highly saline....

  Despite the general preference of fungi to grow at neutral or slightly acidic pH, some have been shown to grow at high pH too. ... Most probable substrates for fungi in soda soils include plant biomass from halophytic grasses, chitin c arapaces and protein-rich eggs of brine shrimps, and possibly bird feathers. Sodiomyces might be tightly associated with bacteria as we often encountered them along the fungal hypha, which makes it challenging to separate from each other. ....

Balance: Progesterone is an anti-fungal hormone. INDEX
http://blog.probacto.com/the-mother-of-all-hormones-natural-progesterone-cream/
The “Mother of all Hormones” – Natural Progesterone Cream.
Written by Sean Brookwood, Published on August 14, 2013

LINK 2: http://www.progesterone-info.com/candida.html **
LINK 3:

So many people are lead to believe that vaginal candida is exacerbated by progesterone.
This is simply not true! Candida is actually exacerbated by estrogen.
Studies have been done on both progesterone and estrogen which show clearly, that progesterone does not cause an overgrowth (of fungi), it actually protects against it.

Progesterone - has anti-fungal properties by suppressing estrogen, which is known to exacerbate candida at in vivo levels.

Estrogen ... It has been found to induce the conversion of candida from it's yeast form to it's mycelial form - the more infectious of the two. Progesterone and estrogen work to balance each other. If there is a high level of estrogen, either endogenous, or from external sources, there is nothing to prevent the candida.

In women a high level of endogenous estrogen can be caused by a low level of progesterone.
In the case of both men and women, a high level of estrogen can also be caused by estrogen mimics found in the air, in our food and water and in the skin care products that we use. Our planet is so polluted, over 100 synthetic estrogens have been found that mimic our own. Every living thing is affected, particularly fishes and reptiles living in the water.

Over twenty years ago, Dr. John R. Lee became a pioneer in the use and applications of progesterone for women going through menopause because of lowering levels of estrogen.

Progesterone is called the “mother of all hormones” and for a good reason, progesterone is the hormone from which every other hormone in your body is made, including estrogen, which is why it is often recommended as use for estrogen replacement. Research studies have shown over and over again that a supplement containing a natural progesterone cream can increase progesterone levels as well as estrogen, and this is without causing the serious side effects which using estrogen often induces.

Progesterone is both a male and female hormone, and today, progesterone cream is used in hormone therapy treatments for men, women, and children.

If you’re wondering whether progesterone is completely safe or not, Dr. Lee once made the statement,

“We know that transdermal progesterone is very affective, very convenient, and very safe.
Overdoses do not hurt anybody. An overdose might mess up your period;
it could cause the period to change as to when it comes in the month.”

A little known fact about menopause, estrogen, and progesterone is; when a woman is going through menopause, her estrogen levels can decrease anywhere between 40 and 60%. What isn’t talked about enough is the fact that her progesterone levels will sometimes decrease to very close to zero. This means too many times the symptoms that she is experiencing are caused by and estrogen dominance. As you can see by this, estrogen replacement therapy will only correct part of the problem, but never all. This is why using progesterone replacement is more effect than is estrogen replacement, especially for menopausal women.

Testing for Low Progesterone Levels:
Generally, testing for progesterone levels is a waste of time and money because there are so many factors which can temporarily cause a low reading of progesterone. First, believe it or not, the level of progesterone can vary depending on one’s location. For example, if you lived in the far north where the nights are very long and darkness seems to go on forever, the levels of progesterone will normally drop. If a woman is taking birth control pills and it contains progestogens, then this can lower her progesterone levels. Then there’s the problem of the ovaries secreting progesterone causing the progesterone reading to vary within a 30 minute period. Women who are not ovulating at the time have a lower level. So, since it’s so inexpensive and basically risk free, the best way to determine if one needs progesterone replacement is probably to try it and see if it makes a difference in any bothersome symptoms such as mood swings and hot flashes.

“What if I’m already taking estrogen?”
If you’re already on estrogen replacement therapy, between 2 and 3 months of using progesterone may be necessary in order to increase as well as maintain the level of progesterone and in some cases, to alleviate the dominance of estrogen.

When the correct amounts of natural progesterone are used, this sometimes causes a sense of euphoria for women. This is during the period of time that the body is balancing the progesterone to estrogen ratio. Also, as the body begins to adjust to the estrogen receptors in the body becoming more sensitive, a woman can experience a light case of acne.

Where on the body should progesterone cream be applied?
A natural form of progesterone can be applied to the skin, preferably to areas such as the back of the knees, tops of the hands, neck, top of shoulders, tops of feet, or the upper chest area, and, supposedly, applying to the hands produces a rapid absorption. In other words, for better absorption, use it anywhere on the body where there’s very little fat. It’s also suggested that the area receiving the progesterone cream is alternated every day.

How much Natural Progesterone should I use?
Of course, the amount of progesterone you apply depends completely on the hormonal as well as whether or not you menstrual, and if so, the current status of your menstruation. During the reproductive years when you’re still ovulating you would likely use progesterone for controlling problems of Premenstrual syndrome. The progesterone hormone will also protect the bones from early osteoporosis as well as in the later early.

The instructions for using progesterone cream duration the reproductive years as well as afterwards should be on the container. The suggested dose is usually around ¼ of a teaspoon applied every day, or if you prefer, you can apply the cream 1/8 of a teaspoon twice each day at different times of the day.

Benefits:
• Normalizes blood sugar levels and reduces cravings.
• Protects the body against breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.
• Increases the body’s use of fat for energy.
• A natural diuretic.
• Alleviates symptoms of menopause.
• If used during the reproductive years, it alleviates menstrual cramps.
  --- This can be accomplished faster by rubbing the progesterone cream directly into the stomach.
• Restores natural sex drive.
• Protects against abnormal blood clotting.
• Acts as a natural antidepressant.
• Reduces the pain of arthritis, especially when rubbed into the affected joint area.
• Protects the body against endometriosis and uterine fibroids.
• Since cortisone is a natural anti-inflammatory substance, and
  --- progesterone is a precursor of cortisone, it reduces inflammation problems.
• Instead of increasing the chance of heart problems as estrogen sometime does,
  --- progesterone normally lessens the chance of heart problems.

Profile: Aspergillosis. INDEX
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/
transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/aspergillosis.jsp

LINK 2: http://respiratory-lung.health-cares.net/aspergillosis-symptoms.php
LINK 3: http://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/aspergillosis/definition.html
LINK 4: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec17/ch197/ch197b.html
LINK 5: http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/
transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/aspergillosis.jsp
LINK 6: http://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/aspergillosis/treatment.html
LINK 7: https://www.thieme.com/media/samples/pubid1030960601.pdf
( Other materials and references will be found in the Aspergillosis Monograph)

Aspergillosis refers to several forms of disease caused by a fungus in the genus Aspergillus.
Aspergillosis fungal infections can occur in the ear canal, eyes, nose, sinus cavities, and lungs.
In some individuals, the infection can even invade bone and the membranes that enclose the brain and spinal cord (meningitis).

Aspergillosis is primarily an infection of the lungs caused by the inhalation of airborne spores of the fungus Aspergillus.
Spores are the small particles that most fungi use to reproduce. Although virtually everyone is exposed to this fungus in their daily environment, it rarely causes disease. When Aspergillus does cause disease, however, it usually occurs in those individuals with weakened immune systems (immunocompromised) or who have a history of respiratory ailments.

Because it does not present distinctive symptoms, aspergillosis is generally thought to be underdiagnosed and underreported. Furthermore, many patients with the more severe forms of aspergillosis tend to have multiple, complex health problems, such as AIDS or a blood disorder like leukemia, which can further complicate diagnosis and treatment.

The most common symptoms of aspergillosis are

pain in the sinuses, 
pain in the nose, or 
pain in the ear canal; 
facial swelling; 
cough and 
difficulty breathing; 
chest pain; and 
fever, and 
night sweats. 

Aspergillosis affecting the deeper tissues makes a person very ill. ...
fever, 
chills, 
shock, 
delirium, and 
blood clots. ...
kidney failure, 
liver failure (causing jaundice), and 
breathing difficulties ...
Death ... 

Some Aspergillus species cause serious disease in humans and animals.
The most common pathogenic species are A. fumigatus and A. flavus, which produces aflatoxin which is both a toxin and a carcinogen, and which can contaminate foods such as nuts. The most common species causing allergic disease are A. fumigatus and A. clavatus. Other species are important as agricultural pathogens. Aspergillus spp. cause disease on many grain crops, especially maize, and some variants synthesize mycotoxins, including aflatoxin. Aspergillus can cause neonatal infections.

A. fumigatus (the most common species) infections are primary pulmonary infections and can potentially become a rapidly necrotizing pneumonia with a potential to disseminate. The organism can be differentiated from other common mold infections based on the fact that it takes on a mold form both in the environment and in the host (unlike Candida Albicans which is a dimorphic mold in the environment and a yeast in the body).

Aspergilloma is the most common form of aspergillosis.
It occurs in hosts with normal immunity, and the fungus colonizes preexisting cavities (cysts, tuberculous cavities, cystic bronchiectasis) and forms a fungus ball. This may erode the cavity wall both mechanically and through enzymatic action and lead to hemoptysis; this occurs in 50-80% of cases and may occasionally be life threatening (Faulkner et al. 1978, Freundlich and Israel 1973, Jewkes et al. 1983).

Less often, aspergillosis can become very aggressive and rapidly spread throughout the lungs and often through the bloodstream to the brain and kidneys. This rapid spread occurs mainly in people with a weakened immune system.

Aspergillosis affecting the deeper tissues makes a person very ill.
Symptoms include fever, chills, shock, delirium, and blood clots.
The person may develop kidney failure, liver failure (causing jaundice), and breathing difficulties.
Death can occur quickly.

Blood vessel invasion, thrombosis, infarction, and dissemination are extremely common.

Because aspergillosis is not a reportable infection in North America, the exact number of cases is impossible to determine.

Statistics which are reported are fundamentally inaccurate as projections and guesswork based upon incidentally recognized cases.

Unfortunately, the only way to diagnose aspergillosis with certainty is by a tissue biopsy (sampling a piece of your lung). Other tests that can be done include examining your sputum (phlegm) or taking cultures from your airways (breathing tubes). Culture specimens can be collected by a bronchoscopy. Unfortunately, these cultures sometimes miss the infection.

There is also a test that identifies parts of the fungus in your blood, called the serum galactomannan test.
However, this test is not 100% accurate. It may even miss a few cases, but a positive test increases the chance you have the infection, especially if you have risk factors for aspergillosis, and have what looks like aspergillosis on a chest X-ray or CT scan.

Aspergillosis can be quite difficult to diagnose because the symptoms, such as coughing and wheezing, if present at all, are common to many respiratory disorders. Furthermore, blood and sputum cultures are not very helpful.

The presence of Aspergillus is so common, even in asthmatics, that a positive culture alone is insufficient for a diagnosis. Other, potentially more useful, screening tools include examining the sample obtained after repeatedly washing the bronchial tubes of the lung with water (bronchial lavage), but examining a tissue sample (biopsy) is the most reliable diagnostic tool. Researchers are currently attempting to develop a practical, specific, and rapid blood test that would confirm Aspergillus infection.

It must always be remembered that a number of other fungi can be morphologically identical to Aspergillus in tissue. On rare occasions, the hyphae of an Aspergillus sp. may have lateral conidia in tissue.

Invasive aspergillosis
Invasive aspergillosis needs to be treated with prescription antifungal medication, usually voriconazole.
Other antifungal medications used to treat aspergillosis include

lipid amphotericin formulations, 
posaconazole, 
isavuconazole, 
itraconazole, 
caspofungin, and 
micafungin. 

Whenever possible, immunosuppressive medications should be discontinued or decreased.
People who have severe cases of aspergillosis may need surgery.

Often the lung infections are fungal plus viral plus bacteria.
DMSO plus garlic can kill fungus and virus alike

Cortizone/steroids will also seriously acidify your body.
Any fungus or mold just loves acid bodies -- helps them to grow, dominate and spread rapidly throughout the body for sure.

If I were you I would seriously start investigating natural and effective fungal cures(without side-effects) like
turpentine, alkalizing, lugol's iodine, undecylenic acid, hydrogen peroxide, borax, Gymnema sylvestre, colloidal silver, gallium nitrate, oregano, lavender oil etc

Take Turmeric.
I use 4000 mg daily taken 2x a day. I use one that is time released.
My IGE dropped almost 3000 points over 1 1/2 years thanks to Turmeric.

I also use a salt pipe.
Salt has been shown to inhibit the growth of aspergillus and you will see immediate results.
I have had ABPA for 8 years. The drugs didn't help. I'm doing fine now.

Azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus is an increasing problem throughout the world. Resistant isolates have been identified in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America, and recently in the US. A recently published manuscript (Wiederhold, 2016 J. Clin. Microbiol. 54:168-171) has identified an isolate in the US with the same resistance mechanism that is being detected all over the world (called TR34 L98H).

Heavy metals: These create a dynamic in which they encourage fungal and bacterial growth, and, mutation ... while at the same time depressing/retarding those activities. Possible developments become real; enhanced speed becomes Slow speed of activity.

++ Alcohol: many fungi, including Candida Albicans and Aspergillosis species, produce alcohol as one of their digestive products. For a variety of factors, there would appear to be a personal maximum threshold of alcohol presence in the body. Beyond that threshold, the individual will either be drunk, or, have reached a concentration which triggers "Neutralized Motivation", or, the strength of influence over other life functions will be depressed into inactivity.

Neutralized Motivation:
This is an emotional state which significantly weakens rational and body housekeeping-support abilities.
I find it almost impossible to adequately describe in words which others will understand who have not experienced it.
It will be a reflection of how the individual is transformed during alcohol intoxication. So many personal reports have been offered and recorded that it is a cultural stereotype to assume that alcohol intoxicated persons will express themselves in either of two extremes of attitude and behavior.

Profile: Candida. INDEX
http://www.nutritionscan.cc

LINK 2: https://www.thieme.com/media/samples/pubid1030960601.pdf

Two years ago, the University of Innsbruck team showed that antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) could also inhibit fungi.

Serotonin seemed to suppress the symptoms of vaginal candidiasis, or yeast infection, in women.
The patients found they had no flare-ups of the yeast infection while taking Zoloft to treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder, but when they stopped taking the drug the infection returned.

Fungi belonging to the Candida family are responsible for yeast infections, and can also cause thrush, an infection of the mouth and throat. Aspergillus fungi can also infect humans.

Because (SSRIs) increase serotonin levels during treatment, the researchers tested serotonin directly against a range of Candida species.

The researchers report in this month's issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology that serotonin was active against all four species tested.

Pulmonary candidiasis should be suspected in the presence of a pneumonia that is refractory to standard therapy or in the immunocompromised host with florid oral or esophageal candidiasis. The diagnosis may be established by demonstration of candida in transbronchial biopsy specimens. Sputum analysis is of no value because of the ubiquitous nature of the organism (Geary et al. 1980).

A wide spectrum of radiographic findings has been described in candida pneumonia.
Appearances may be indistinguishable from that of bacterial pneumonia with lobar or segmental consolidation. Diffuse bilateral alveolar or mixed alveolar-interstitial shadowing may be seen (Buff et al. 1982). Candida pneumonia may present as multiple small pulmonary abscesses; these may be randomly distributed if hematogenous spread has occurred or peribronchiolar when resulting from aspiration (Müller 1990). A miliary-nodular pattern has been described in pulmonary candidiasis (Pagani 1981), and diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage is also recognized as a manifestation (Müller 1991).

Profile: Pneumonia. INDEX
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Fungal_pneumonia

LINK 2: https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/pneumocystis-pneumonia/index.html
LINK 3: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/300341-overview
LINK 4: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/300341-overview#a3

Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death in developed countries.
Fungal pneumonia is an infectious process in the lungs caused by one or more endemic or opportunistic fungi.

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is a serious infection caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii. Pneumocystis jirovecii used to be classified as a protozoan but is now considered a fungus.4 Pneumocystis jirovecii used to be called Pneumocystis carinii. When scientists renamed P. carinii to P. jirovecii, some people considered using the abbreviation “PJP,” but to avoid confusion, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia is still abbreviated “PCP.”

Fungal pneumonia is an infection of the lungs by fungi.
It can be caused by either endemic or opportunistic fungi or a combination of both.
Case mortality in fungal pneumonias can be as high as 90% in immunocompromised patients, though immunocompetent patients generally respond well to anti-fungal therapy.

Fungi typically enter the lung with inhalation of their spores, though they can reach the lung through the bloodstream if other parts of the body are infected. Also, fungal pneumonia can be caused by reactivation of a latent infection. Once inside the alveoli, fungi travel into the spaces between the cells and also between adjacent alveoli through connecting pores. This invasion triggers the immune system to respond by sending white blood cells responsible for attacking microorganisms (neutrophils) to the lungs. The neutrophils engulf and kill the offending organisms but also release cytokines which result in a general activation of the immune system. This results in the

• fever,
• chills,
• chest pain,
• coughing, and
• fatigue
  --- common in bacterial and fungal pneumonia.

In individuals who are neutropenic or immunocompromised, persistent fever (even before pulmonary findings) may be an early sign of infection, especially if the fever is unresponsive to broad-spectrum antibiotics.

The neutrophils and fluid leaked from surrounding blood vessels fill the alveoli and result in impaired oxygen transportation.

Patients with fungal pneumonia can develop signs of damage in other organs like the heart, kidneys, and liver.
If this infection is identified, the patient is carefully evaluated for complications like these so prompt treatment can be provided before they become a serious medical issue.

Fungal pneumonia can be diagnosed in a number of ways.
The simplest and cheapest method is to culture the fungus from a patient's respiratory fluids; such tests are insensitive and are also slow, time being a critical factor in preventing mortality. Studies have shown that slow diagniosis of fungal pneumonia is linked to high mortality(e.g.). Microscopy is also a slow and imprecise method. Supplementing classical methods is the detection of antigens, notably, galactomannan and ß-1-3 D glucan in Aspergillus. Such methods are faster, but are currently confined to Aspergillus, and can be less sensitive and specific than classical methods.

A molecular test based on real-time PCR is also available, from Myconostica. this test relies on DNA detection, and as such is the fastest, most sensitive and most specific test available for fungal pneumonia.

The diagnosis of fungal pneumonias is difficult to prove and is often made on a presumptive basis.
It relies on a combination of clinical, radiologic, and microbiological factors. Candida organisms and some ubiquitous filamentous fungi (Aspergillus and Scedosporium) can be isolated from oropharyngeal and respiratory tracts as colonizers without evidence of invasion or symptoms until a breakdown of tissue barriers or of the host's immune system occurs. Nonmolecular fungal markers in serum or other biological samples represent a noninvasive diagnostic tool, which can help in therapeutic decisions.

The individual prognosis is often linked to the severity and outcome of the underlying disease and to whether a reversal of factors affecting the patient's immune status is possible.

Fungal pneumonia can be treated with antifungal drugs and sometimes by surgical debridement.

PCP spreads from person to person through the air.
Some healthy adults can carry the Pneumocystis fungus in their lungs without having symptoms, and it can spread to other people, including those with weakened immune systems.

Many people are exposed to Pneumocystis as children, but they likely do not get sick because their immune systems prevent the fungus from causing an infection. In the past, scientists believed that people who had been exposed to Pneumocystis as children could later develop PCP from that childhood infection if their immune systems became weakened. However, it is more likely that people get PCP after being exposed to someone else who has PCP or who is carrying the fungus in their lungs without having symptoms.

Endemic fungal pathogens (eg, Histoplasma capsulatum, Coccidioides immitis, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Sporothrix schenckii, Cryptococcus neoformans) cause infection in healthy hosts and in immunocompromised persons, in defined geographic locations of the Americas and around the world.

Endemic fungal disease affects men (75-95%) more often than women.
Estrogen-mediated inhibition of mycelium-to-yeast transformation may be responsible for the male predominance.
Estrogen also seems to have a protective effect against cryptococcal infection. Cryptococcosis has a male-to-female ratio of 2-3:1.

Opportunistic fungal organisms (eg, Candida species, Aspergillus species, Mucor species) tend to cause pneumonia in patients with congenital or acquired defects in the host immune defenses. Hyalohyphomycosis is a broad term that describes infections due to a number of rare and emerging heterogeneous fungi that when isolated from infected lung tissue, appear as hyaline (lightly colored), filamentous fungi difficult to distinguish from Aspergillus. These genera include Scedosporium, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Acremonium, and Trichoderma and are described in more detail in the article "Rare and Emerging Fungal Pulmonary Infections".
LINK: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/573254_2

Complications of fungal pneumonia include

(1) disease dissemination to other sites (ie, brain, meninges, skin, liver, spleen, kidneys, adrenals, heart, eyes) and sepsis syndrome and

(2) blood vessel invasion, which can lead to hemoptysis, pulmonary infarction, myocardial infarction, cerebral septic emboli, cerebral infarction, or blindness.

Other complications may include the following:
• Bronchopleural or tracheoesophageal fistulas
• Chronic pulmonary symptoms
• Mediastinal fibromatosis (histoplasmosis)
• Broncholithiasis (histoplasmosis)
• Pericarditis and other rheumatologic symptoms

Aspergillosis represents the leading cause of invasive pulmonary lung infection and death among patients who are neutropenic (from either leukemia chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation) with a mortality rate of 50-85%. More often, in the case of aspergillosis and candidal infections or meningoencephalitis in the case of cryptococcosis, the cause of mortality in patients who are immunocompromised is disseminated fungal disease.

Mucormycosis represents the second most common cause of fungal pneumonia, accounting for approximately 10% of all invasive pulmonary infections in immunosuppressed patients and resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Patients with hematologic malignancies are at highest risk, but uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and iron overload are important predisposing factors.
Rhizopus, Mucor, Absidia (Lichtheimia), and Rhizomucor species are the most commonly implicated.

P boydii or its asexual form, S apiospermum, is now considered an emerging pathogen causing pneumonia and disseminated infections in the same immunocompromised hosts as aspergillosis. Scedosporium species (including prolificans) are inherently resistant to amphotericin B and echinocandins, and infections carry high mortality rates, especially in the persistently profound neutropenic patient.

The mortality rate for untreated disseminated histoplasmosis is 80%, but, with treatment, the rate is reduced to 25%.

The mortality due to fungal respiratory infections among immunosuppressed populations has remained elevated despite the arrival of new antifungal medications. The paucity of specific signs of infections and the low sensitivity of conventional culture-based methods for its diagnosis results in delayed initiation of antifungal therapy.

High-resolution chest computed tomography (CT) scanning allows observation of the halo sign in patients with aspergillosis. This is a nodular lesion usually surrounded by a ground-glass opacity or halo. As many as 61% of 235 patients with invasive aspergillosis were found to have the halo sign in one study. ... CT scans should be obtained at the first hint of pulmonary infection in patients at risk of mucormycosis because of the high mortality in this patient population. Occasionally, performing an open lung biopsy is the only way to prove invasive disease for Aspergillus or Candida organisms.

Profile: Tuberculosis. INDEX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis

LINK 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0422763813000150
Microarray detection of fungal infection in pulmonary tuberculosis
Authors: Nehad M.Osmana, Ashraf A.Gomaaa, Nehad M.Sayed, Ashraf A.Abd el azizc
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcdt. --- 2013.02.002

LINK 3: http://drsircus.com/general/drugresistant-tuberculosis/
Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
by Dr. Mark Sircus, Ac., OMD
Published on February 3, 2012

LINK 5: https://www.thieme.com/media/samples/pubid1030960601.pdf
aus: Lange/Walsh, Radiology of Chest Diseases (3137407036)
© 2007 Georg Thieme Verlag KG

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease USUALLY caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB).
Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections do not have symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis. About 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kills about half of those infected. The classic symptoms of active TB are a chronic cough with blood-containing sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.

Roughly one-third of the world's population has been infected with M. tuberculosis, with new infections occurring in about 1% of the population each year. However, most infections with M. tuberculosis do not cause TB disease, and 90–95% of infections remain asymptomatic. In 2012, an estimated 8.6 million chronic cases were active. In 2010, 8.8 million new cases of TB were diagnosed, and 1.20–1.45 million deaths occurred, most of these occurring in developing countries. Of these 1.45 million deaths, about 0.35 million occur in those also infected with HIV.

Tuberculosis is the second-most common cause of death from infectious disease (after those due to HIV/AIDS).
About 90% of those infected with M. tuberculosis have asymptomatic, latent TB infections (sometimes called LTBI), with only a 10% lifetime chance that the latent infection will progress to overt, active tuberculous disease.

Fungal pulmonary infection can be acquired in tuberculosis, immunodeficiency patients, and other chronic diseases.
Many physicians missed fungal pulmonary infection because it does not show specific clinical manifestations.

Aspergillus spp., was the only fungus detected in 24% of cases, Group I showed the highest percentage (26.6%) with statistically significant difference compared to Group II and III (20%) for each. Aspergillus fumigatus was the predominant spp. identified followed by Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus.

Microarray detection of mycotic infection represents a rapid diagnostic tool helping early diagnosis of fungal co-infection and pulmonary TB. MDR-TB patients carry the risk of higher percentage of fungal infections and more liable for acquiring mixed fungal pathogens. Presence of male sex, smoking, DM and far extent of lesion must attract physicians’ attention for fungal co-infection with pulmonary TB.

Incidence and prevalence.
The main factor determining whether tuberculous infection progresses to disease is the immune competence of the individual (Murray 1996). Today the disease most commonly is found in persons whose immune status is compromised by old age, alcohol abuse, diabetes melli- tus, steroid therapy, or AIDS. There is also a relatively high incidence in certain ethnic groups, many of whom have recently immigrated to Western Europe and North America. (Typically, heavy metal and other toxicities, which significantly depress immune function are increasingly indicated yet continually overlooked or inadequately or incompletely tested for.)

Dr. Elmer Cranton says that,

“Yeast overgrowth is partly iatrogenic (caused by the medical profession) and can be caused by antibiotics.”

Fungi (e.g. Aspergillus fumigatus) are not affected by antibiotics and neither are viruses.
If not given correct treatment (antifungal medication) the prognosis is that 50% of those infected will die inside five years. In fact the overuse of antibiotics leads to fungal infections. Allopathic doctors practicing pharmaceutical medicine are a lost cause now that the world of pathogens is rebelling against what they have been doing with antibiotics these past decades.

When fungi become systemic from gut inflammation and the overuse of antibiotics, you can see how the whole body -- again, the eyes, liver, gallbladder, muscles and joints, kidneys, and skin -- becomes involved in inflammatory bowel disease. – Dr. Dave Holland

Over one million people worldwide are misdiagnosed with tuberculosis when in reality they have an incurable disease with a similar outlook to many cancers, says a recent report published in 2011 in the Bulletin of the WHO. The disease called “chronic pulmonary aspergillosis” (CPA) is a fungal infection not a bacterial infection. Is this incurable, totally drug-resistant TB infection fungal or bacterial? It looks very much like, or is identical to, TB when doctors look at it on a chest X-ray and it has very similar symptoms initially. Doctors mistake it for TB and prescribe antibiotics as standard practice.

Because the X-ray features and symptoms are so similar to bacterial tuberculosis, doctors fail to recognize it, resulting in many unnecessary fatalities. – World Health Organization

Fifty percent of all patients who develop pulmonary aspergillosis are unlikely to survive for more than five years, a similar outlook to many cancers. Deaths from fungal infections are a little like death from vaccines, invisible and off the radar from most of the medical establishment. Yet as high as 40 percent of cancers are provoked by infections, and even though in most late-stage cancers, the infection is fungal the medical profession considers it heresy to say cancer and fungus in the same breath.

“Doctors often misdiagnose CPA and prescribe the wrong treatment, which leads to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths,” researchers from University of Manchester and University of Toronto say in the report. CPA evades the immune system in the lungs and may lie undetected for years until symptoms such as weight loss, tiredness, coughing and bleeding develop. Yet, by the time these symptoms emerge, it is often too late to treat the disease successfully, according to the report.

“TB is a major scourge worldwide, and to find that over a third of a million people each year then develop an incurable and ultimately fatal fungal complication -- which could be diagnosed and treated -- demands action,” Professor Ian Jacobs, Director of MAHSC, a partnership between the NHS in Manchester and the University of Manchester, said in the report.
LINK: http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20111201/
8069/medical-misdiagnosis-tuberculosis-leading-deaths.htm

What doctors say is tuberculosis today infects or has infected one-third of the population of the world and new infections occur roughly one every second! Precisely because TB is such a common infection doctors have to cope with huge numbers of patients, particularly in the developing world. There is a well-established routine once doctors see a typical chest X-ray -- give antibiotics without providing any kind of differential diagnosis to ascertain whether the infection is bacterial or fungal.

Ordinary TB is usually cured by taking antibiotics for six to nine months.
However, if that treatment is interrupted or the dose is cut down, the stubborn bacteria battle back and mutate into a tougher strain that can no longer be killed by drugs. The problem is that from stubborn bacterial infections, even more “stubborn” fungal infections develop and these are not recognized or treated. The Associated Press reported on a case of a Peruvian teenager who was infected at home but diagnosed while visiting Florida. He was successfully treated for a year and a half with experimental high doses of medicines not typically used for TB, costing about $500,000.

One must wonder here why they have not tried nebulized sodium bicarbonate, which, when combined with glutathione, offers one of the finest, safest and least expensive ways of treating the lungs. And iodine, that nutritional mineral medicine used for over 150 years, also when nebulized, offers anti-pathogen firepower without equal because it has the ability to take down viruses, bacteria and stubborn fungi.

Though it kills 90 percent of bacteria on the skin within 90 seconds, the use of iodine as an antibiotic has been tragically ignored. Iodine exhibits activity against bacteria, molds, yeasts, protozoa, and many viruses; indeed, of all antiseptic preparations suitable for direct use on humans and animals and upon tissues, only iodine is capable of killing all classes of pathogens: gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, mycobacteria, yeasts, and protozoa. Most bacteria are killed within 15 to 30 seconds of contact.

Iodine is by far the best antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic of all time. – Dr. David Derry

No doubt these doctors have no idea that treatments with high oral dosages of iodine, and even the nebulization of magnesium chloride, will also have a strong effect against pathogens while tuning up the entire system, including stimulating immune function. For 500,000 dollars, using these three emergency room and intensive care medicines: magnesium chloride, transdermally applied and/or nebulized, sodium bicarbonate nebulized with glutathione or orally taken, and iodine used orally and/or nebulized (nascent only for nebulization), they could treat a thousand people!

Glossary: Mycology Terms to assist you. INDEX
https://mycology.adelaide.edu.au/glossary/
by Dr David Ellis, The University of Adelaide, AU

LINK 2: https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/~glossary.php
LINK 3: https://fungiforthepeople.org/mushroom-info/mycoglossary/
LINK 4: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/glossary.html
Kuo, M. (2006, February)

adnate: (gills) attached to the stem over all or most of their total depth

Annulus or "Ring"
A ring of tissue around the upper part of a mushroom's stem, resulting from the collapsing of the partial veil.
Rings are extremely variable, ranging from ephemeral and quickly disintegrating to sturdy and prominent.

The type of ring a mushroom has is frequently a key determiner of its identity.
Some mushrooms, like the Parasol Mushroom, have rings which are separable from the stem and can be made to slide up and down. The shape of a ring can also help identify some mushrooms; rings may be sheathlike ("peronate"), skirtlike ("pendant"), or intermediate. Additionally, the position of the ring can be important; it may be superior, apical, median, inferior, or basal ("at the very top" to "at the very bottom," in order).

AMPHIBIOUS FUNGI – specialized stream-inhabiting, leaf-colonizing fungi

AMYLASE – an enzyme which hydroyzes starch.

arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM)
(a mycorrhiza) where fungi from the Glomeromycota penetrate the roots of a (usually herbaceous) plant and provide the plant with water and nutrients while the plant supplies sugars to the fungus

ARBUSCULE – a finely branched organ produced by endomycorrhizal fungi (Glomales) inside host root cells; the interface at which fungus and plant exchange phosphorus and photosynthates.

CHITIN – the principal polysaccharide in cell walls of most fungi (but not Oomycota);

cap: top part of a basidiomycete mushroom that carries the fertile tissue

carpophore: fungal fruitbody comprising stem, cap and gills

Conidium (pl. conidia)
An asexual reproductive propagule formed in any manner that does not involve cytoplasmic cleavage. Conidia function as organs of dissemination.

Denticle: A small projection or peg on which conidia are produced.

DESTROYING ANGEL – the pure white agaric, Amanita virosa: ingestion of 1 mL of this fungus can prove fatal; its toxins are cyclic polypeptides, esp. amanitins.

DIKARYOTIC – having two separate but compatible nuclei in each cell or compartment; a nuclear condition unique to the fungi.

ECTOMYCORRHIZA or ECTOTROPHIC MYCORRHIZA
– mycorrhiza in which a dikaryomycotan mycelium ramifies through the soil, forms a mantle around individual rootlets, and grows between cells of the root cortex, forming a Hartig net (the interface between the symbionts). The fungus exchanges phosphorus for photosynthates from the root. Many forest trees, esp. Pinaceae, Fagaceae, have ectomycorrhizal associations with agarics or boletes.

ectomycorrhiza (EM)
(a mycorrhiza) where the fungus forms sheathes around plant rootlets (often of a tree), growing between but not penetrating the cells of the plant root, and providing the plant with water and nutrients while the plant supplies sugars to the fungus

ENDOMYCORRHIZA or ENDOTROPHIC MYCORRHIZA
– an ancient symbiosis of fungi with green plants; hyphae gathering nutrients from the soil, esp. phosphorus, are continuous with others that grow between and within root cells and produce ARBUSCULES (q.v.); found in 90% of angiosperms and conifers, except Pinaceae; also called vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae

FAIRY RING
– mushrooms arising at the periphery of a radially spreading underground mycelium; common in grasslands, and around conifers.

Foot cell: A basal cell of a conidiophore as seen in Aspergillus and Fusarium.

Hulle cells: Thick-walled cells with characteristic thin-walled pores, usually associated with cleistothecia of Aspergillus.

hygrophanous: appearing translucent when wet, paler and more opaque when dry

hypha: (pl., hyphae) filamentous thread of fungal mycelium

KOMBUCHA – The following have been isolated from ‘Kombucha tea’ Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium xylinoides, Bacterium gluconicum, Saccharomyces ludwigii, Saccharomyces apiculatus varieties, Schizosaccaromyces pombe, Acetobacter ketogenum, Torula varieties, Pichia fermantans and other yeasts. In other words, this is a really mixed bag which has occasionally had very deleterious effects.

LICHEN – a dual organism in which a fungus (usually an ascomycete) maintains a green alga or a cyanobacterium captive within its thallus in a symbiosis that approaches balanced parasitism. Some lichens consist of three or more symbionts.

mycorrhiza: structure by which a fungus and a plant exchange nutrients mutually

peridium: outer wall of a fungus, especially a gasteromycete (e.g. a puffball)

PILEUS – the spore-bearing cap or head of a mushroom or other large fungal fructification.

Pleomorphic: Having more than one form.

Saprobe, Sabprobic, Saprotrophic, Saprophytic
Mushrooms that are saprobes survive by decomposing dead or decaying organic material.
Many wood rotting fungi are saprobes, and help decompose dead wood--but other wood rotters are parasitic and attack living wood. Most yard and garden mushrooms (like Marasmius oreades) are saprobes, as well as dung-loving mushrooms and mushrooms that decompose leaf or needle litter (like Marasmius pulcherripes).

SCLEROTIUM (pl. = SCLEROTIA)
– a firm, frequently rounded, mass of hyphae with or without the addition of host tissue or soil, normally having no spores in or on it (cf. BULBIL, STROMA); a sclerotium may give rise to a fruit body, or mycelium.

slime moulds: a group of fungus-like organisms that use spores to reproduce

SUBSTRATE –
(1) the food of a fungus;
(2) substance acted on by an enzyme;
(3) the material from which a fungus is fruiting – e.g. polypores mostly occur on wood.

thallus: (pl., thalli) the body of a fungus or a lichen

Universal Veil
A "universal veil" is a tissue enclosing the entire button mushroom. It serves to protect the immature mushroom, and makes it look rather like an egg. When sliced in cross-section, button mushrooms encased in universal veils reveal the mushroom-to-be inside (which is why those who eat puffballs should always slice them open to make sure they are not poisonous Amanitas!). The universal veil is ruptured by the growing mushroom, and it may disappear entirely or leave warts or patches on the cap of the mature mushroom--and/or fragments at the base of the stem.

Many mushrooms display a universal veil, including Amanita species like Amanita muscaria, Volvariella species, and stinkhorns.

Volva
A "volva" is a ruptured, sack-like covering at the base of the mushroom's stem. The volva results from the mushroom pushing through the universal veil, which covers young buttons to protect them. Many species of Amanita, including some of the deadliest mushrooms on earth, have volvas, as do mushrooms in Volvariella and some other mushrooms.

Because the deadly Amanitas have volvas, it is essential for beginning mushroomers to learn how to recognize this feature. Sometimes volvas are buried, and they are not always as prominent as they are in a typical Amanita phalloides or Volvariella speciosa--so you should be sure to dig out the base of the mushroom in question and inspect it carefully!

YEASTS – fungi which in many cases are unicellular, though some produce hyphae; most yeasts are anamorphs; their cells are conidia, and they multiply by various kinds of conidiogenesis. Some can produce asci, some can form basidia, and some appear to be anamorphic holomorphs — entirely asexual.

INDEX