Interesting Facts
Did you know that in the mid-19th century, microsporidia almost destroyed the silk industry in Europe?
Louis Pasteur studied the disease in silkworm for 5 years and showed the farmers that the plague could be successfully overcome by microscopic examination of silkworms and ova with elimination of all those found to be diseased (Franzen 2008). Though we do not know what species of microsporidia infected the silkworm, E. bieneusi or other closely related species are possible.
This work was the main influence on Pasteur for his Germ Theory of Disease.
Microsporidia are currently under debate as an organism to be studied by mycologists or by other eukaryotic scientists. They are basal to fungi and the animal kingdoms as evidence from microsporidia's extremely puny genome.
Read more about this topic: Enterocytozoon Bieneusi
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