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Cryptococcus gattii: Clinical Importance and Emergence in North America

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Abstract

Cryptococcus gattii is an emerging fungal pathogen in the Pacific Northwest of North America, where it has caused more than 50 human infections since its emergence in 2004. Among residents of British Columbia, where the disease emerged in 1999 on Vancouver Island, many infections have occurred in immunocompetent persons. The cause for the emergence is currently unknown. The pathogenic profile of Cryptococcus gattii in North American patients appears to be different from that seen previously for C. gattii and from the profile of infection among patients with Cryptococcus neoformans. Treatment duration and the need for patient follow-up may be different between patients infected with C. gattii and C. neoformans. For this reason, physicians treating atypical patients with Cryptococcal spp infection, particularly HIV-uninfected patients, should obtain a travel history and obtain a species identity for Cryptococcus isolates.

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Acknowledgments

The findings and conclusions of this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The authors wish to thank members of the C. gattii Public Health Working Group (Emilio E. DeBess and Dawn Daly, Oregon Department of Human Services; Ron Wohrle, Nicola Marsden-Haug, Marcia Goldoft, and Cyndi Free, Washington State Department of Health; Ben Sun and Duc Vugia, California Department of Public Health; Tom Chiller, Naureen Iqbal, and Joyce Peterson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Linda Hoang and Muhammad Morshed, BC Centers for Disease Control; and Karen Bartlett, University of British Columbia) for thoughtful discussions, and Mary Brandt and Tom Chiller for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shawn R. Lockhart.

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Lockhart, S.R., Harris, J. Cryptococcus gattii: Clinical Importance and Emergence in North America. Curr Fungal Infect Rep 4, 151–157 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12281-010-0021-y

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