Generally, in Brazil, the transmission of sporotrichosis is by traumatic inoculation of fungi with the handling of organic matter. However, since the late 1990s, sporotrichosis in the great metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro has become an urban endemic/epidemic zoonotic phenomenon, with transmission from infected cats to humans. Middle-aged housewives are the most affected population, particularly from deprived social strata. With the consolidation of the epidemic, vulnerable groups have been affected and the most striking group is people with HIV infection because of the superimposed burdens of both infections. Other states in Brazil have also presented zoonotic cases, however, with smaller dimensions. Sporothrix brasiliensis is the primary species involved in this hyperendemic. We believe that the combination of susceptible hosts, a virulent infecting species, and the absence of an effective public health structure are some of the possible associated factors that resulted in this catastrophe.