The suspected fungal elements were Grocott positive and were arranged partly in clusters. The species of algae in humans belong to the genus Prototheca. The green algae, however to the genus Chlorella. The latter are pathogenic for animals. In our case the P. wickerhamii was the pathogenic species. The first cases of protothecosis were described in the sixties of the last century. In Venezuela our cases were the first to be described.
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