Mycology is the study of fungi.
Anthropophilic dermatophytes are so well adapted to living on human skin that they provoke minimal inflammatory reaction. Zoophilic or geophilic dermatophytes will often provoke a more vigorous inflammatory reaction when they attempt to invade human skin. There are about 40 species. Their spores can live for more than a year in human skin scales in the environment. T. mentagrophytes var.