A possible case of mycosis in a post-classical burial from La Selvicciola (Italy).

An examination of an adult male buried from the post-classical necropolis of La Selvicciola (Viterbo, Latium, Italy; 4th-6th centuries AD) revealed a series of skeletal lesions. The lesions, both proliferative and lytic, ranging in size from small (around 0.01 mm) to extensive (up to 16.00 mm) pits, occurred at multiple sites. A holistic approach assessed lesion type, frequency and location in a differential diagnosis, which included myeloma, metastatic carcinoma, tuberculosis, leukemia, osteomyelitis, and mycoses. It was concluded that a mycosis, specifically Cryptococcosis, was the most likely cause of these lesions. Both macroscopic analyses and X-ray scans support our diagnosis. We also provide a methodological scheme as a model for examining unknown lesion patterns.

One hundred years ago: the history of cryptococcosis in Greifswald. Medical mycology in the nineteenth century.

Medico-mycological investigations began at Greifswald in Germany as early as 1842 when Wilhelm Baum (1799-1883) was appointed to the chair of surgery of the university. This is shown by some theses of the time, as well as by the discovery of the contagious nature of pityriasis versicolor by Carl Ferdinand Eichstedt (1816-92), who identified a fungus as the cause (1846), later named Microsporon furfur (C. Robin 1853). In 1868 the physician Karl Friedrich Mosler (1831-1911) published clinical-mycological studies and investigations about animal feeding with yeasts. Some time later (1870) Friedrich Grohé (1830-86) and his assistants, Alwin R.A. Block (1843-?) and M.R. Roth of the Pathological Institute, described the results of transmission studies with 'Aspergillus glaucus, Penicillium glaucum and yeast'. His successor in the chair, Paul Grawitz (1850-1932), also published the results of his own mycological investigations. Finally, on 7 July 1894, at an evening lecture of the Greifswald Medical Society, Abraham Buschke (1868-1943) from the Hospital of Surgery gave a talk 'on a peculiar disease caused by coccidia', which was followed by a talk by the pathologist Otto Busse (1867-1922) on a 'demonstration of a pathogenic coccidia species'. Busse's subsequent publications are the first proper descriptions of cryptococcosis (1894 ff.). However, Cryptococcus neoformans was named after F. Sanfelice, whose results were published later (1895).

[One hundred years of cryptococcosis. Medical mycology in the 19th century in Greifswald]. / Hundert Jahre Cryptococcose. Medizinische Mykologie im 19. Jahrhundert in Greifswald.

Not later than 1842 medico-mycological investigations began at Greifswald in Germany following the appointment of Wilhelm Baum (1799-1883) to the chair of surgery at the university. This is indicated by some theses as well as by the discovery of the contagious characteristics of pityriasis versicolor by Carl Ferdinand Eichstedt (1816-1892) who found a fungus as the cause (1846), which was named Microsporon furfur later (C. Robin 1853). In 1868 the physician (Karl) Friedrich Mosler (1831-1911) published clinical-mycological studies and investigations on animal feeding with yeasts. Some time later (1870) Friedrich Grohé (1830-1886) and his assistants Alwin R. A. Block (1843-?) and M. R. Roth of the Pathological Institute described results of transmission-studies with "Aspergillus glaucus, Penicillium glaucum and yeast". The successor to the chair, Paul Grawitz (1850-1932), also published results of his own mycological investigations. Finally, on 7 July, 1894, during the evening lecture of the Greifswald Medical Society Abraham Buschke (1868-1943) from the Hospital of Surgery gave a talk "on a peculiar disease caused by coccidia" followed by the talk of pathologist Otto Busse (1867-1922) on a "demonstration of a pathogenic coccidia species". Busse's subsequent publications are the first proper descriptions of cryptococcosis (1894 f). Nevertheless, Cryptococcus neoformans has been named in connection with F. Sanfelice, whose results were published later (1895).