Occurrence and significance of Cryptococcus neoformans in the respiratory tract of patients with bronchopulmonary disorders.
Cryptococcus neoformans was cultured from 13 (3%) of 469 clinical specimens examined from the respiratory tract of patients with bronchopulmonary diseases. These isolations came from 5 (2%) of 207 patients; 11 isolates were from sputum and 1 each were from bronchoscopic aspirate and empyema pus. The fungus was not cultured from the oropharyngeal washings of 101 apparently healthy volunteers. Of the 5 patients, 3 had pulmonary tuberculosis, including one with pyopneumothorax and 2 with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis as the underlying disease. In the tuberculosis patient with pyopneumothorax and C. neoformans in empyema pus, the fungus was presumably a tissue invader, whereas its role could not be unequivocally ascertained in the remaining 4 patients from whom it was isolated from sputum or bronchial aspirate on at least two consecutive occasions. The question of C. neoformans being a transient resident, commensal, or incitant of benign minimal lesions in the tracheobronchial tree is discussed. A comprehensive laboratory and clinical follow-up is warranted in patients from whose sputum or bronchial aspirate C. neoformans may be cultured even though definitive signs of cryptococcosis may be lacking.
D003013:Clostridium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003454:Cryptococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000382:microbiology; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000382:microbiology