Soil is a complex environment hosting a vast amount and diversity of living organisms. Fungi are one of the most diverse groups of soil organisms, which excrete a huge variety of enzymes and organic acids and play an essential role in soil processes including the decomposition of organic matter, e.g., ^[1][2], and soil aggregation and stabilization ^[3]. At the same time, many species of soil fungi are known to be pathogenic for human health. In the modern world, elevated anthropogenic pressure from industrial and agricultural activities disrupts the stability and functioning of the soil ecosystem, thus influencing different aspects of its fungal diversity. In return, fungi, due to the exceptional plasticity of their genomes ^[4], develop various adaptations for survival in a changing environment, which may include also the increase of potential pathogenicity. Now, the information on soil as an important source of pathogenic fungi is rather restricted and fragmentally dispersed over different published sources. The present review aims to summarize the current knowledge on soil fungi from different taxonomic and functional groups causing public health problems, such as dermatoses, allergies, pulmonary diseases, infections of the central nervous system, wound infections, and others, and to observe the main morphological, physiological, and biochemical factors supporting their pathogenic potential. This issue is especially relevant in the context of the “One Health” approach, which purposes to connect, balance, and optimize the health of people, plants, animals, and their environment ^[5][6].

Because in the framework of one review it is impossible to observe the pathogenic potential of all, or even the majority of soil-inhabiting fungi, I focused only on the most frequently and abundantly distributed groups of soil filamentous fungi dangerous for public health.