Fungus
Talaromyces marneffei
Southeast Asian dimorphic fungus; fission yeast
tal-uh-ROH-mih-seez mar-NEF-eye
High-yield clue
Yeast dividing by fission (a transverse septum, not budding) plus red diffusible pigment in mold culture from a Southeast Asian HIV patient is the core study clue.
Overview
A thermally dimorphic fungus (formerly Penicillium marneffei) endemic to Southeast Asia and southern China that causes talaromycosis, an important opportunistic infection in advanced HIV. Classic geographic dimorphic-fungus teaching organism of Southeast Asia.
Classification
- Thermally dimorphic fungus
- Mold at 25C, yeast at 37C
- Yeast divides by transverse binary fission (a central septum), not budding
- Ascomycota (formerly Penicillium marneffei)
- Endemic to Southeast Asia
Lab & identification clues
- Intracellular fission yeast with a central septum vocabulary
- Mold form produces a diffusible red pigment in agar vocabulary
- Penicillus (brush-like) conidiophore in mold phase
- Recovered from blood, marrow, or skin lesions in coursework
Associations
- Talaromycosis in advanced HIV/low CD4 vocabulary
- Endemic to Vietnam, Thailand, and southern China
- Bamboo rats as environmental reservoir association
- Umbilicated (molluscum-like) skin papules teaching vocabulary
Commonly confused with
- Histoplasma capsulatum (small intracellular yeast)
- Cryptococcus (encapsulated yeast)
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.