Cryptococcus

(Here's a picture from google images of Cryptococcus neoformans. I thinks it's kind of pretty.)

For my first installment of things you didn't know existed but will now haunt (or interest) you...

Cryptococcus neoformans is a encapsulated yeast first discovered in 1894 by a pathologist named Busse. It enters the body via the lungs and host responses range from being an asymptomatic infection to pulmonary disease to meningitis to disseminated disease. Cryptococcus infection is increasing in incidence as HIV becomes more and more prevalent all over the world. In the US about 5-10% of AIDS patients will get C. neoformans and in Zimbabwe, for example, approximatley 85% of AIDS patient get the disease. AIDS, however, is not the only cause of immunosuppression, organ transplantation, steriod use, and even malignancy can result to crytococcus setting up residence in the body.

Prior to 1955, if Cryptococcus entered the brain of a person he or she had an 80% of dying, but since Amphotericin B (nicknamed, Ampho-terrible because of its side effects) was invented mortality has been greatly decreased. Once someone with HIV has this fungus, they are treated intensively for weeks to months with Ampho and then given a lifetime of antifungal medicine to keep it from returning. Even if you are not immunosuppressed but you get infected with this in your lung, you are looking at 6 months to 1 year of medicine (fluconazole) to rid yourself of it.

All this to say, Cryptococcus is a bad boy with a pretty face. Oh yeah, one aside, stay away from aged pigeon droppings because that is where it grows best!