Phoma SP

A common indoor air allergen. It is similar to the early stages of growth of Chaetomium sp. The species are isolated from soil and associated plants (particularly potatoes). Produces pink and purple spots on painted walls (3, 17). It may have antigens which cross-react with those of Alternaria sp. It will grow on butter, paint, cement, and rubber. It may cause phaeohyphomycosis, a systematic or subcutaneous disease.

Phoma sp is a common air allergen which is commonly found indoors. This fungus is mistaken by most people in its early stages with chaetomium sp. However, Phoma sp is usually isolated from the soil and plants like potatoes, and it produces purple spots. It can grow almost on every place including on paint, cement, rubber, or even the butter used in our homes.

Extensive research that has been done has found out that Phoma sp will more often than not exist in two forms, namely Phoma glorneta, or Phoma macrostoma. Both of them grow in almost similar conditions, usually in moist surfaces like bathrooms. Since this species of fungus comes in different colors and grows in diverse conditions, the color of the colony and the existence plus the structure of the chlamydospores helps in distinguishing the individual species.

Phoma sp is among the rarely known causes of phaeohyphomycosis, an infection that occurs after a trauma. However, much as Phoma sp is regarded as a contaminant, it is known to rarely cause any infections to human beings. Rather, it is a species which is better considered as a plant pathogen. This species of fungi grows in colonies which multiply rapidly. They are flat and somewhat powdery, and submerged in the medium they grow. When one closely looks at Phoma sp, from the front the color looks whitish, and as it grows becomes olive – Grey, and occasionally looking pinkish. Some species have also been found to produce a reddish purple to yellow – brown color when viewed from the reverse. When observed from a microscope, some species of these funguses are visible. Some like Pycnidia are large, round, and have asexual fruiting bodies which are dark and bear phialides at the inner lining. Pycnidia have a one or more openings called Ostioles, which are on the conidia released outside. Another species called conidia is unicellular and oval shaped.

In plants, Phoma sp causes a condition known as Phoma blight which makes the plant wither, and the leaves fading. The plant later dies, and the disease could spread to other plants in the vicinity. Phoma blight can wreak havoc in a plant nursery, and what makes it quite tricky is that it can wait in the soil for the next generation of plants to be planted, for it to recur again. Though it has mild effects on humans, it can trigger mold allergies, especially if it grows indoors. It can also cause respiratory infections, and a skin infection which causes discoloration of the skin as the Phoma sp grows inside the layers of the skin. This skin infection also affects animals, but there are anti fungal drugs to treat it in humans and animals alike.