ABSTRACT
Forty-five clinical and 55 environmental strains of Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans from São Paulo, Brazil, were tested for their susceptibilities to amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, and flucytosine by the broth microdilution method according to the National Committee of Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines. Electrophoretic karyotypes analysis by counter-clamped homogeneous electrophoresis was used to compare their genetic relatedness. Molecular typing revealed three clinical profiles very similar to two environmental profiles and an identical environmental and clinical profile. The results showed that human cryptococcosis can be acquired from environmental strains, which had similar minimum inhibitory concentration values to clinical strains, for antifungal agents.
Subject(s)
Cryptococcosis/microbiology , Cryptococcus neoformans/growth & development , Animals , Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Brazil , Columbidae/microbiology , Cryptococcosis/drug therapy , Cryptococcus neoformans/genetics , Cryptococcus neoformans/metabolism , DNA, Fungal/chemistry , DNA, Fungal/genetics , Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field , Humans , Karyotyping , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Rural Population , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
One hundred clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and non-HIV-infected patients from Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela were separated according to varieties and tested for antifungal susceptibility. A high susceptibility to antifungal agents was observed among all the isolates. The electrophoretic karyotyping of 51 strains revealed good discrimination among Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans strains.
