Fatal disseminated Cryptococcus gattii infection in New Mexico

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 12; p. e28625
• Main Authors: Walraven, Carla J, Gerstein, Wendy, Hardison, Sarah E, Wormley, Floyd, Lockhart, Shawn R, Harris, Julie R, Fothergill, Annette, Wickes, Brian, Gober-Wilcox, Julie, Massie, Larry, Ku, T S Neil, Firacative, Carolina, Meyer, Wieland, Lee, Samuel A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14-12-2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Animals; Autopsy; Biology; Brain - microbiology; Brain - pathology; Case reports; Child health; Cryptococcosis - microbiology; Cryptococcosis - pathology; Cryptococcus; Cryptococcus gattii - classification; Cryptococcus gattii - genetics; Cryptococcus gattii - pathogenicity; Cryptococcus gattii - physiology; Cryptococcus neoformans; Disease control; Disease prevention; Disseminated infection; Fatal Outcome; Fungal infections; Genotype; Headaches; Health aspects; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Immunology; Infections; Infectious diseases; Lung - microbiology; Lung - pathology; Male; Medical laboratories; Medicine; Meningitis; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Middle Aged; Multilocus Sequence Typing; New Mexico; Pathogens; Patients; Phylogeny; Science; Virulence; Virulence (Microbiology); New Mexico; Vancouver Island; Atlanta Georgia; Georgia; California; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028625

We report a case of fatal disseminated infection with Cryptococcus gattii in a patient from New Mexico. The patient had no history of recent travel to known C. gattii-endemic areas. Multilocus sequence typing revealed that the isolate belonged to the major molecular type VGIII. Virulence studies in a mouse pulmonary model of infection demonstrated that the strain was less virulent than other C. gattii strains. This represents the first documented case of C. gattii likely acquired in New Mexico.