Fusarium sporotrichioides is a fungus found in cereal grain. This fungus is believed to have caused the mycotoxicosis epidemic in Russian between 1942 and 1948, and also earlier in 1913 and 1932. The region that was most affected by this epidemic was Russia’s Orenburg region near the Caspian Sea.  Fusarium sporotrichioides produces a type of toxin called a trichothecene, which causes a disease now referred to as Alimentary Toxic Aleukia.  This disease has symptoms that are similar to those caused by radiation sickness. These include fever, rashes, and bleeding from the nose, throat and gums.  More severe symptoms include extreme leucopenia, and the elimination of bone marrow.  Fusarium sporotrichioides is a very uncommon species and is found to grow mostly in temperate regions on cereal crops but studies have found that the toxin production is most favorable in low temperatures. The presence of toxin-producing Fusarium sporotrichioides in the grain in Russia is believed to have caused the deaths of at least 100,000 people who obtained the toxin in bread made from overwintered Fusarium-infected wheat.

--Jenna Godwin