First Report of Cryptococcus Albidus－Induced Disseminated Cryptococcosis in a Renal Transplant Recipient

Abstract

Cryptococcus albidus, a non-neoformans species of the genus Cryptococcus, is generally regarded as a rare cause of disease. There have been only 14 previously reported cases in which this organism has been isolated as a pathogen, none of which occurred in a renal transplant recipient. A 23-year-old renal transplant recipient taking medication consisting of cyclosporine and prednisolone was admitted with a 10-day history of dry cough, fever and progressive dyspnea. The next day, his respiratory status deteriorated dramatically, and he developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and fulminant septic shock. On the eighth hospital day, tender macules on both his shins coalesced to form erythematous patches. Cryptococcus albidus was isolated by skin biopsy and tissue culture. We report here the first case of disseminated cryptococcosis caused by C. albidus in a renal transplant recipient who had been successfully treated with fluconazole monotherapy.

Atmospheric Movement of Microorganisms in Clouds of Desert Dust and Implications for Human Health

“…Five viable isolates of Neisseria meningitidis recently identified in settled-dust samples from Kuwait demonstrate that dust can serve as a carrier for the pathogen (141). Other pathogens were also identified in this project (141), including Staphylococcus aureus (wide range of infections), Bacillus circulans, (opportunistic), Bacillus licheniformis (opportunistic, peritonitis), Pantoea agglomerans (opportunistic, peritonitis), Ralstonia paucula, (opportunistic, septicemia, peritonitis, abscess, and tenosynovitis), and Cryptococcus albidus (opportunistic, disseminated) (13,122,136,140,159,179). Given the current state of affairs in the Middle East, many of these opportunistic dust-borne pathogens may play a significant role in human health with regard to combat-related injuries, treatment, and recovery.…”

Non-neoformans Cryptococcal Infections: a Systematic Review

“…With the exception for one case that had acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [30], most cases manifested as chronic, indolent illnesses [9,25,[44][45][46]. The type and extent of pulmonary involvement included pneumonia, lung abscess and empyema [9,26,[44][45][46].…”

“…Seventeen patients with non-neoformans cryptococcemia presented with either fever, hypothermia or septic shock [2,4,5,9,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Risk factors included the presence of an invasive device (9/17; 53%), neutropenia (7/ …”

Case Report of Cryptococcus Albidus Peritonitis in a Peritoneal Dialysis Patient and a Review of the Literature

“…To our knowledge, just 26 cases of infection with C. albidus have been reported in the world literature [ Table 1 (1,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)]. The present case is unusual both because peritonitis with C. albidus has never before been reported, and because cryptococcal peritonitis is in general very rare, with only 4 cases having been reported in patients on PD (24).…”

“…Of the 26 reported cases of C. albidus infection, 8 were cases of central nervous system infection (5-7,10,22); 8, of fungemia (8,9,11,12,15,16,19,23); 3, of cutaneous disease (1,13,20); 3, of ocular disease (14,17,21); 3, of pulmonary disease (4,6); and 1, of vulvovaginitis (18). Notably, the related organism C. neoformans has a propensity to invade the central nervous system, and furthermore, meningeal involvement with that fungus may be asymptomatic (8).…”