Isolation of highly encapsulated Cryptococcus neoformans serotype B from a patient in New York City.

For the first time, Cryptococcus neoformans serotype B was isolated from a patient in New York City, not a region endemic for B/C serotypes. The isolate was morphologically unusual, with cells several times larger in infected tissue than those characteristic of the yeastlike pathogen. This anomaly may be a problem in the identification of similar isolates. Two serotype differentiation media and a slide agglutination test were used for definitive serotype identification.