Lugarini Camile, Goebel Cristine Souza, Condas Larissa Anuska Zeni, Muro Marisol Dominguez, de Farias Marconi Rodrigues, Ferreira Fabiano Montiani, Vainstein Marilene H
Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Estrada do Cerne, km 11, 83535-000, Campo Magro, PR, Brazil.
Mycopathologia. 2008 Aug;166(2):61-9. doi: 10.1007/s11046-008-9122-3. Epub 2008 May 6.
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic basidiomycete yeast that causes life-threatening infections as meningoencephalitis primarily in immunocompromised hosts, generally associated with AIDS. The source of this organism is mainly pigeon excreta; however, other avian species' excreta are implicated as a source of this yeast. The occurrence of C. neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in bird excreta in the state of Paraná in Brazil was determined in this study. A total of 141 samples of Passerine and Psittacine excreta from captive birds were collected. Additionally, 25 clinical samples from Hospital de Clínicas, in the state of Paraná were also analyzed. The determination of molecular and mating type of the isolates was performed by PCR fingerprinting, multiplex PCR, and mating type PCR. Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (VNI) was isolated from 36 (25.53%) of Passerine and Psittacine excreta samples. Almost all clinical samples, except one (C. gattii VGI), were classified as C. neoformans var. grubii (VNI). All environmental and clinical isolates were mating type alpha. These findings reinforce that, besides pigeon excreta, the excreta of these birds can also be a reservoir of C. neoformans in domestic and public environments and is of zoonotic importance to immunocompromised patients.
新型隐球菌是一种机会致病性担子菌酵母，主要在免疫功能低下的宿主（通常与艾滋病相关）中引起危及生命的感染，如脑膜脑炎。这种病原体的来源主要是鸽子粪便；然而，其他鸟类的粪便也被认为是这种酵母的来源。本研究确定了巴西巴拉那州鸟类粪便中新型隐球菌和格特隐球菌的存在情况。共收集了141份圈养鸟类雀形目和鹦鹉目粪便样本。此外，还分析了来自巴拉那州临床医院的25份临床样本。通过PCR指纹图谱、多重PCR和交配型PCR对分离株进行分子和交配型测定。从36份（25.53%）雀形目和鹦鹉目粪便样本中分离出新型隐球菌变种格鲁比（VNI）。除一份样本（格特隐球菌VGI）外，几乎所有临床样本都被归类为新型隐球菌变种格鲁比（VNI）。所有环境和临床分离株均为α交配型。这些发现进一步证明，除了鸽子粪便外，这些鸟类的粪便在家庭和公共环境中也可能是新型隐球菌的储存宿主，对免疫功能低下的患者具有人畜共患病的重要性。
