Libero Ajello

Libero Ajello (January 19, 1916 in New York City, New York - February 24, 2004) was a renowned American mycologist and one of the founders and president of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM). He was a pioneer chief of the Mycotic Diseases Division at the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), editor of the ISHAM Journal Medical Mycology for several years, and member of numerous local, national and international professional organizations. Through his extensive research, he has made valuable contributions to the comprehensive field of veterinary and human fungal disease diagnosis .

Early life and education

Libero Ajello was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey. His parents emigrated to U.S. from Petralia Sottana, a village in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, where he has always been proud of. He had a sister, Santa Ajello and a brother, Vero Ajello. Ajello studied medical mycology under the tutelage of Rhoda Benham and completed his Ph.D at Columbia University in 1947.

Career

Before pursuing a doctorate at Columbia University, Ajello worked for the armed forces during World War II with a series of studies on tinea pedis, a skin infection on the feet caused by dermatophyte fungi. Shortly after the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) opened its doors in 1946, Ajello joined the team of medical epidemiologists and formed the Mycology Diagnostic, Reference and Research Unit, where he remained actively working for 43 years, leading a committed team of mycologist researchers. His discoveries greatly impacted the little clarified niche of fungal diseases, changing the medical and public health practices throughout the world. He retired in 1990 as director of the CDC's mycology division.

Honours

Ajello was highly decorated by his government for his outstanding work at the CDC and contributions to the public health in the United States. He also received numerous prestigious awards and honorary memberships in national mycology societies of many countries.

Publications

With more than 390 scientific publications that include articles, chapters, books and editorials, Ajello focused his work mainly on histoplasmosis, coccioidomycosis and systemic fungal diseases, making important discoveries in the diagnostic field of these diseases. His first work was published in the 1940s. He worked on nutritional requirements of the dermatophytes, morphology characteristics of T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum, potentially important to contribuite to diagnosis, studying the pigmentation, and hair penetration of 40 isolates of T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum and concluding that the different manner in which these two species attack hair in vitro is a diagnostic aid for their identification when correlated with morphology. In the 1950s, aiming to improve the identification of Coccidioides immits, he investigated different methods of the pathogen isolation from soil and clinical samples, which often failed due to overgrowth of saprophytic fungi and bacteria.

Some of his major publications and contribuitions during his lifetime

1. Georg LK, Ajello L, Gordon MA. A selective medium for the isolation of Coccidioides immitis. Science 1951; 114: 387-389.
2. Zeidberg LD, Ajello L, Dillon A, Runyon LC. Isolation of Histoplasma capsulatum from soil. Am J Public Health 1952; 42: 930-935.
3. Bauer H, Ajello L, Adams E, Hernandez DU. Cerebral mucormycosis: pathogenesis of the disease; description of the fungus, Rhizopus oryzae, isolated from a fatal case. Am J Med 1955; 18: 822-831.
4. Ajello L, Georg LK. In vitro hair cultures for differentiating between atypical isolates of Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Trichophyton rubrum. Mycopathologia 1957; 8: 3-17.
5. Ajello L, Comparative ecology of respiratory mycotic disease agents. Bact. Rev., 1967; 31: 6-24.
6. Aplan W, Application of the fluorescent antibody technique to the diagnosis and study of coccidioidomycosis. In: Ajello, L. Coccidioidomycosis, pp. 227- 231. ed. Univ. of Ariz. Press, Tucson.
7. Ajello L. Coccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis. A review of their epidemiology and geographical distribution, 1971; 6; 45(3):221-30.
8. Ajello L, Georg LK, Steigbigel RT, Wang CJ. A case of phaeohyphomycosis caused by a new species of Phialophora. Mycologia 1974; 66: 490-498
9. Ajello L. Milestones in the history of medical mycology: the dermatophytes. In: Iwata K, editor. Recent Advances in Medical and Veterinary Mycology, Proceedings of the Sixth Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology, 1977; Tokyo: University of Tokyo, 1977: 3-11.
10. McGinnis MR, Padhye AA, Ajello L. Pseudallescheria Negroni et Fischer, 1943 and its later synonym Petriellidium Malloch, 1970. 1982; Mycotaxon 14: 94-102.
11. Honbo S, Standard PG, Padhye AA, Ajello L, Kaufman L. Antigenic relationships among Cladosporium species of medical importance. Sabouraudia 1984; 22: 301-310.
12. Weeks RJ, Padhye AA, Ajello L. Histoplasma capsulatum variety farciminosum: a new combination for Histoplasma farciminosum. Mycologia 1985; 77: 964-970.
13. McGinnis MR, Borelli D, Padhye AA, Ajello L. Reclassification of Cladosporium bantianum in the genus Xylohypha. J Clin Microbiol 1986; 23: 1148-1151.
14. Weitzman I, McGinnis M, Padhye AA, Ajello L. The genus Arthroderma and its later synonym Nannizzia. Mycotaxon 1986; 25: 505-518.
15. Arora DK, Ajello L, Mukerji KG, eds Handbook of Applied Mycology, Vol. 2: Humans, Animals, and Insects, 1st ed. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1991: 665-706.
16. Ajello L. Italian contributions to the history of general and medical mycology. Med Mycol 1998; 36 Suppl 1: 1-11.
17. Ajello L, Hay RJ, Medical Mycology, Vol. 4, Topley & Wilson’s Microbiology and Microbial Infections, 9th ed. London: Arnold, 1998: 595-615.
18. Herr RA,Tarcha EJ, Taborda PR, Taylor JW, Ajello L, Mendonza L. Phylogenetic Analysis of Lacazia loboi Places This Previously Uncharacterized Pathogen within the Dimorphic Onygenales, 2001. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, p. 309–314

Personal life

Dr. Ajello was respected for his teachings and assistance to other scientists around the world. He was an esteemed, friendly and cordial person in his field, immediately awakening a feeling of admiration, respect and friendship in his work environment, among friends and family. During his vacations, he often took the opportunity to go on natural history tours, visiting places in Malaysia, Australia, Brazil and Costa Rica. He was married to Gloria Ajello, had a son, Mark Ajello and two grandchildren.