Ceratonia siliqua(carob) trees as natural habitat and source of infection byCryptococcus gattiiin the Mediterranean environment

Abstract

Recent Cryptococcus gattii infections in humans and animals, including several outbreaks in goats, were the basis of this environmental survey in six provinces of Spain. A total of 479 samples from 20 tree species were studied. Cryptococcus gattii was found for the first time in autochthonous Mediterranean trees in Spain. Fourteen isolates of this pathogen were obtained from seven trees of three different species: 12 from carob (Ceratonia siliqua), one from Mediterranean stone pine (Pinus halepensis) and another from eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). All C. gattii isolates were genotype AFLP4/VGI and mating type alpha, and were found to be genetically identical with C. gattii strains isolated from humans and animals in Spain. This supports the hypothesis that these trees may be a natural source for infection of humans and mammals in the Mediterranean area.

Seasonal prevalence of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and Cryptococcus gattii inhabiting Eucalyptus terreticornis and Eucalyptus camaldulensis trees in Jabalpur City of Madhya Pradesh, Central India

“…Significant difference was seen in the isolation frequency of C. neoformans and C. gattii during autumn and rainy season (P < 0.001) and spring and rainy season (P < 0.001) respectively. Colom et al [2] also reported low rate of isolation of each pathogenic Cryptococcus species from Eucalyptus trees. This is also in accordance with previous finding from Mediterranean area [7,8,18].…”

Clinical analysis of 76 patients pathologically diagnosed with pulmonary cryptococcosis

“…Besides host immune factors, pulmonary cryptococcosis could also be related to environmental exposure to contaminated airspace, including close contact with animals [16][17][18][19], green plants [20] or other natural sources contaminated by fungi [21].…”

Immunoproteomics and Immunoinformatics Analysis of Cryptococcus Gattii : Novel Candidate Antigens for Diagnosis

“…Today, the differentiation between C. neoformans and C. gattii is a difficult task since: the available commercial differentiation methods (e.g., API ® 20C AUX [bioMérieux, France], Vitek ® [bioMérieux] and MicroScan ® [Siemens, Germany]) do not differentiate between C. neoformans and C. gattii; and the methods capable of differentiating the two species (multiplex PCR, liquid array detection of pathogens, PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism [12,13] and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry future science group of continental North America. The potential for C. gattii to cause illness in immunocompetent patients and its rapid spread worldwide justify the implementation of a public health effort to increase the awareness of both the public and healthcare professionals [1,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The mechanism of C. gattii dispersion is not well understood.…”