Summary and conclusions

Abstract

This historical study has traced the development of medical mycology as a discipline in the United States for the past 100 years. The discipline began within the context of sweeping technological and social changes in this country beginning in the late 1890s. Not long before, the country had emerged from the trauma and destruction of the Civil War, followed by westward expansion, as pioneers shook off the emotional depression of that terrible conflict. After the Civil War, the standard of living increased rapidly and brought demands for a better quality of life, including medical care and treatment. Known technologies were improved, such as the microscope, and bacteriological laboratories were established in the two newly founded medical schools at Columbia University in New York and the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore. The stage was set for the study of fungal diseases and the immediate reaction of the medical community to diagnose and treat these newly realized threats to public health.