Spitzer E D, Spitzer S G, Freundlich L F, Casadevall A
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, State University of New York, Stony Brook.
Lancet. 1993 Mar 6;341(8845):595-6. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)90354-j.
Patients with cryptococcal meningitis tend to have recurrences of infection. Although the original strain of Cryptococcus neoformans is assumed to persist in recurrent infections, this assumption has not been tested. Southern blot hybridisation with two genomic DNA probes and pulsed-field electrophoresis of intact chromosomes were used to investigate the genetic relation between initial and relapse isolates of C neoformans from patients with recurrent cryptococcal meningitis. Eleven isolates were obtained from four patients (three with AIDS, one with leukaemia). Isolates from each patient could be distinguished from those of the other patients; however, each patient's initial and recurrence isolates were clonally related. Our results provide strong evidence that clinical recurrences of cryptococcal meningitis result from persistence of the original infecting strain.
隐球菌性脑膜炎患者往往会出现感染复发。尽管假定新型隐球菌的原始菌株在复发性感染中持续存在，但这一假设尚未得到验证。使用两种基因组DNA探针进行Southern印迹杂交以及完整染色体的脉冲场凝胶电泳，以研究复发性隐球菌性脑膜炎患者新型隐球菌初始分离株和复发分离株之间的遗传关系。从4名患者（3名艾滋病患者，1名白血病患者）中获得了11株分离株。每位患者的分离株都可与其他患者的分离株区分开来；然而，每位患者的初始分离株和复发分离株在克隆上具有相关性。我们的结果提供了强有力的证据，表明隐球菌性脑膜炎的临床复发是由原始感染菌株的持续存在所致。
