Biological warfare
Mass casualties occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s when Fusarium-contaminated wheat flour was baked into bread, causing alimentary toxic aleukia with a 60% mortality rate. Symptoms began with abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and prostration, and within days, fever, chills, myalgias and bone marrow depression with granulocytopenia and secondary sepsis occurred. Further symptoms included pharyngeal or laryngeal ulceration and diffuse bleeding into the skin (petechiae and ecchymoses), melena, bloody diarrhea, hematuria, hematemesis, epistaxis, vaginal bleeding, pancytopenia and gastrointestinal ulceration. Fusarium sporotrichoides contamination was found in affected grain in 1932, spurring research for medical purposes and for use in biological warfare. The active ingredient was found to be trichothecene T-2 mycotoxin, and it was produced in quantity and weaponized prior to the passage of the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972. The Soviets were accused of using the agent, dubbed "yellow rain", to cause 6,300 deaths in Laos, Kampuchea, and Afghanistan between 1975 and 1981. The "biological warfare agent" was later purported to be merely bee feces, but the issue remains disputed. Pest
Fusarium has posed a threat to the ancient cave paintings in Lascaux since 1955, when the caves were first opened to visitors. The caves subsequently closed and the threat subsided, but the installation of an air conditioning system in 2000 caused another outbreak of the fungus which is yet to be resolved.
In the tumorous stage a dense infiltrate of medium-sized lymphocytes with cerebriform nuclei expands the dermis. Accurate staging of mycosis fungoides is essential to determine appropriate treatment and prognosis. Staging is based on the tumor, node, metastasis, blood (TNMB) classification proposed by the Mycosis Fungoides Cooperative Group and revised by the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas/European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer. This staging system examines the extent of skin involvement (T), presence of lymph node (N), visceral disease (M), and presence of Sezary cells in the peripheral blood (B).Most patients with mycosis fungoides have early-stage disease (Stage IA-IIA) at the time of their initial diagnosis. People with early stage disease that is primarily confined to the skin have a favorable prognosis. People with advanced stage (Stage IIB-IVB) are often refractory to treatment and have an unfavorable prognosis. Treatment options for people with advanced stage disease are designed to reduce tumor burden, delay disease progression, and preserve quality of life. Treatment
The most commonly recommended first-line treatment for mycosis fungoides is psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA therapy). PUVA is a photochemotherapy that involves topical or oral administration of the photosensitizing drug psoralen followed by skin exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Systemic treatments of mycosis fungoides often lead to resistance; as such, additional treatment options are often necessary in advanced disease.Other treatments that have been suggested, however, larger and more extensive research is needed to identify effective treatment strategies for this disease.