Environmental Status of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in Colombia

Abstract

The genus Cryptococcus comprises more than 80 species, including C. neoformans and C. gattii, which are pathogenic to humans, mainly affecting the central nervous system. The two species differ in geographic distribution and environmental niche. C. neoformans has a worldwide distribution and is often isolated from bird droppings. On the contrary, C. gattii is reported in tropical and subtropical regions and is associated with Eucalyptus species. This review aims to describe the distribution of environmental isolates of the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex and the Cryptococcus gattii species complex in Colombia. A systematic investigation was carried out using different databases, excluding studies of clinical isolates reported in the country. The complex of the species of C. gattii is recovered mainly from trees of the genus Eucalyptus spp., while the complex of the species of C. neoformans is recovered mainly from avian excrement, primarily Columba livia (pigeons) excrement. In addition, greater positivity was found at high levels of relative humidity. Likewise, an association was observed between the presence of the fungus in places with little insolation and cold or temperate temperatures compared to regions with high temperatures.

A Landscape of the Genomic Structure of Cryptococcus neoformans in Colombian Isolates

“…The phylogenetic analysis performed between the 611 genomes included in the study showed that the vast majority of isolates (97%) corresponded to the VNI molecular type ( Figure 1 and Figure 2 A), confirming previous studies performed by MLST [ 5 , 14 ] and its global distribution [ 41 , 42 ]. By analyzing the genetic variability of VNI and comparing it with the reported isolates from Africa and Asia, the C. neoformans VNI lineage from Colombia presents a comparable variability with isolates from Africa [ 43 ] (Colombian isolates = 102,559 SNPs ( n = 29) vs. African isolates = 105,391 SNPs ( n = 24)).…”

“…[ 38 ]. Considering that this species has been the most frequently recovered from clinical isolates [ 5 ] and with a wide distribution in different departments and Colombian environments [ 14 , 15 ], this study focused on analyzing the phylogenomic relationship and genetic structure of C. neoformans from 29 Colombian clinical isolates of cerebrospinal fluid.…”

“…This type has been associated with 99% of infections in HIV patients with cryptococcal meningitis [ 6 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In Latin America, this molecular type is not only the principal etiologic agent of Cryptococcosis (~76%) but also the most recovered molecular type from environmental reservoirs (~69%) [ 3 , 5 , 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Considering the high incidence of C. neoformans in Colombia [ 14 , 21 ] and the gap in the knowledge about the genomic features of this species in our country, this study focusses on analyzing the genomic characteristics of 29 C. neoformans Colombian clinical isolates recovered through the passive surveillance of Cryptococcosis led by the INS (National Institute of Health of Colombia). We evaluated not only the genomic variation among them (ploidy/gene changes and structural variations and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) but also their phylogenomic relationships with 582 available C. neoformans genomes, including genomes of different molecular types (VNI/VNII), hybrid genomes ( Cryptococcus neoformans strain H99/ Cryptococcus neoformans strain JEC21), and Cryptococcus gattii WM276 genomes.…”

Disseminated cryptococcosis mimicking malignant lymphoma on 18F-FDG PET/CT: A case report

“…C. gattii is an encapsulated yeast that has traditionally been found in tropical and subtropical regions. Outbreaks have been recorded in temperate regions such as the Pacific Northwest of the United States, [5,6] but there have been few reported cases of C. gattii in China. [7] C. neoformans is found worldwide.…”