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Psorosperm (from the Greek ψωρα itch and σπερμα seed) is a former name of a number of parasitic protozoa that produce cystlike or sporelike structures in the tissue of hosts. The term is now essentially obsolete.

• Some that affect vertebrate hosts are now called coccidia.
• Others, such as the cause of pébrine in silkworms, are now recognized as microsporidians, and some are myxosporidians.
• The genus Psorospermium (which includes the species Psorospermium haeckeli) itself is a parasite of crayfishes, and belongs to an enigmatic group of unicellular organisms that some biologists think may be related to the common ancestors of animals and fungi.

J. Müller introduced the term in German (as Psorospermien) in 1841.

Psorosperm was at one point believed to be the cause of Darier's disease.

"Psorospermiasis" is classified under 136.4 in ICD-9.

References

1. Ragan MA, Goggin CL, Cawthorn RJ, et al. (October 1996). "A novel clade of protistan parasites near the animal-fungal divergence". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 93 (21): 11907–12. Bibcode:1996PNAS...9311907R. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.21.11907. PMC 38157. PMID 8876236.
2. Müller J. 1841: Über Psorospermien. Arch. Anat. Physiol. Wissensch. Med. 5: 477–496
3. Revere Randolph Gurley (1894). The Myxosporidia, or Psorosperms of fishes: and the epidemics produced by them. Govt. print. off. pp. 72. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
4. "Arch Derm Syphilol -- Excerpt: KERATOSIS FOLLICULARIS (DARIER'S DISEASE) A VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY DISEASE, February 1941, PECK et al. 43 (2): 223". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
5. F. J. Darier. De la psorospermose folliculaire végétante. Étude anatomo-pathologique d'une affection cutanée non décrite ou comprise dans le groupe des acnés sebacées, cornées, hypertrophiantes, des kératoses (ichtyoses) folliculaires, etc. Annales de dermatologie et de syphilographie, Paris, 1889, 10: 597-612.
6. "2009 ICD-9-CM Diagnosis Code 136.4 : Psorospermiasis".

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