First isolation of Cryptococcus gattii molecular type VGII and Cryptococcus neoformans molecular type VNI from environmental sources in the city of Belém, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

Cryptococcus neoformans and

Ancient Dispersal of the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus gattii from the Amazon Rainforest

“…Over this period, 19 patients died due to a C. gattii infection, which is a case-fatality rate of 8.7% [5]. Concurrently with the Vancouver Island outbreak, there have been clusters of AFLP6/VGII C. gattii -related disease reported from captive psittacine birds in São Paulo, Brazil (this study; [8]), a higher incidence of C. gattii AFLP6/VGII infections among immunocompetent children in Northern Brazil [11]–[13] and a case cluster among sheep in Western Australia [4], [14].…”

Global Molecular Epidemiology ofCryptococcus neoformansandCryptococcus gattii: An Atlas of the Molecular Types

“…A total of 8,590 (81%) strains were isolated from clinical sources and 1,958 (19%) from environmental and veterinary sources (Figure 9). Natural C. neoformans isolates were detected from pigeon and other birds excreta, soil, dust, and contaminated dwellings [94, 98, 198–200], as well as from Eucalyptus tree, almond tree, kassod tree, pink shower tree, Caesalpinia peltophoroides , and Anadenanthera peregrine [90, 99, 102, 201, 202]. Some isolates were also recovered from insects, bull, and sheep [99, 203, 204].…”

“…Some isolates were also recovered from insects, bull, and sheep [99, 203, 204]. C. gattii was isolated from soil, dust, and psittaciformes bird excreta [94, 103, 199], and from Eucalyptus camaldulensis , almond tree, kassod tree, pottery tree, jungle tree, Corymbia ficifolia , and Cephalocereus royenii [92, 95, 102, 205–208]. Animal infection due to C. gattii was reported in a cheetah, a goat, and some psittacine birds [11, 91, 209].…”

Are all psittacine birds carriers of Cryptococcus neoformans?

“…In fact, the C. neoformans molecular type VNI strain collected from a commercial aviary in the city of Belém by Costa et al (2009) was isolated from the excreta of caged budgerigars (M. undulatus). It is also important to note that Cryptococcus was not isolated in the "normal microbiota of psittacine birds maintened in captivity" but just from dried bird excreta (faeces plus urine) that had accumulated on the tray.…”

“…Thus, the yeast was isolated from the external microenvironment of these bird cages. Actually, there is a mistake in supposing that the pathogenic species of Cryptococcus isolated by Abegg et al (2006), Lugarini et al (2008) and Santos et al (2009) were present in the normal microbiota of healthy psittacine birds maintained in captivity. Their yeast isolations were done from the excreta of birds of the listed species kept in captivity.…”