TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Cryptococcosis A1 - Casadevall, Arturo A2 - Loscalzo, Joseph A2 - Fauci, Anthony A2 - Kasper, Dennis A2 - Hauser, Stephen A2 - Longo, Dan A2 - Jameson, J. Larry Y1 - 2022 N1 - T2 - Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 21e AB - Cryptococcus, a genus of yeast-like fungi, is the etiologic agent of cryptococcosis. Until recently, cryptococcal strains were separated into two species, Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, both of which can cause cryptococcosis in humans. The two varieties of C. neoformans—grubii and neoformans—correlate with serotypes A and D, respectively. C. gattii, although not divided into varieties, also is antigenically diverse, encompassing serotypes B and C. However, genome sequencing studies have now revealed tremendous diversity among isolates previously assigned to each species, leading to the proposal that each of the prior species classifications includes numerous new species. Hence, C. neoformans and C. gattii are now considered as species complexes. However, for clinical purposes, these species complexes cause indistinguishable disease referred to as cryptococcosis. Consequently, this chapter will continue to use the nomenclature C. neoformans and C. gattii with the understanding that these terms refer to species complexes. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/24 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1198225367 ER -