ABSTRACT Rhinosporidiosis was first identified in 1892 in Argentina and is now present in humans and animals in 90 countries world-wide including wet Africa, warmer states of the US, some countries in Europe and especially in India and Sri Lanka. It is now being reported, autochthonously in humans and animals in previously non-endemic countries and could qualify as an Emerging Infective Disease. The disease has yet unsolved enigmas including non-transferability to experimental animals and uncultivability in vitro; the diagnosis is by histopathology of infected tissues. Recent research identified immune responses in diseased humans but neither Humoral nor Cell-Mediated Immunity has been shown to be protective. On the pathogen Rhinosporidium seeberi, recent research has identified its natural habitat, its taxonomy in a new Class- the Mesomycetozoea, the structure and functions of its endospore and its probable ultimate infective unit – the Electron Dense Body, its sensitivity to newer antimicrobial drugs and biocides and genetic heterogeneity in strains from humans; these aspects remained unknown for several decades and are described in this review.
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