Cryptococcus neofarmans varieties as agents of cryptococcosis in Brazil

RESUMO

The study of the clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neofarmans from 83 brazilian patients with disseminated cryptococcosis showed that 75 were C. neoformans var. neoformans and eight were var. gattii. Twenty-seven isolates were serotyped; all 19 var. neoforms were serotype A and all eight var. gattii were serotype B. The correlation of the varieties of C. neoformans with the presence or not of hosts predisposing conditions to the micosis showed that 1) cryptococcosis caused by gatti variety occurred in seven (58,3%) of the 12 nonimmunosuppressed patientes; 2) cryptococcosis caused by neoformans variety occurred in 65 (98.5%) of the 66 AIDS patients and in al five patients with other immunosuppressive conditions. The comparison of the distribution of the gattii and neoformans varieties between the nonimmunosuppressed and immunosuppressed patientes showed a significant statistical difference (p < 0.01). Comparing our data with that collected from literature it may be presumed that C. neoformans var. neoformans bvehaves as an oportunistic fungi and that C. neoformans var. gattii behaves like a pathologenic one