RT Book, Section
A1 Casadevall, Arturo
A2 Loscalzo, Joseph
A2 Fauci, Anthony
A2 Kasper, Dennis
A2 Hauser, Stephen
A2 Longo, Dan
A2 Jameson, J. Larry
SR Print(0)
ID 1198225367
T1 Cryptococcosis
T2 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 21e
YR 2022
FD 2022
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781264268504
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1198225367
RD 2024/04/24
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.