Asteroid bodies - Cigar-shaped, oval to round clumps of fungal organisms, also known as cigar bodies. They are found in the disease sporotrichosis, a chronic infection caused by the microscopic fungus Sporothrix schenckii. The disease causes painless skin ulcers and nodules in the lymph vessels near the skin surfaces, but can also affect the lungs, joints, and central nervous system. The asteroid bodies are generally nonspecific but may be equivalent to the Asteroid-Schaumann bodies of sarcoidosis and other granulomatous diseases such as berylliosis