A genus of dimorphic imperfect fungi, including the species S. schenckii, an organism of worldwide distribution and the causative agent of sporotrichosis in humans and animals, which grows in soil or vegetation, especially in thorny bushes, and is acquired by humans when infected thorns are introduced into subcutaneous tissues; at 37°C it grows as a yeast and parasitizes tissues as a yeast. [Mod. L., fr. G. sporos, seed, + thrix, hair]
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spo·ro·thrix -.thriks n
1) cap a genus of imperfect fungi of the family Moniliaceae that includes the causative agent (S. schenckii) of sporotrichosis
2) any fungus of the genus Sporothrix
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Spo·ro·thrix (sporґo-thriks) a genus of Fungi Imperfecti of the form-class Hyphomycetes, form-family Moniliaceae. S. schenґckii (formerly called Sporotrichum schenckii) causes sporotrichosis. Many other species, including S. carґnis, cause the formation of white mold on meat in cold storage.
Mold phase of Sporothrix schenckii, showing sympodial conidia borne in clusters at the ends of lateral conidiophores.
Medical dictionary. 2011.