title: Environmental isolation of Cryptococcus gattii VGII from indoor dust from typical wooden houses in the deep Amazonas of the Rio Negro basin.
abstract: Cryptococcosis is a human fungal infection of significant mortality and morbidity, especially in the meningoencephalitis form. Cryptococcosis is distributed worldwide and its agents, C. neoformans and C. gattii, present eight major molecular types-VNI-VNIV and VGI-VGIV respectively. The primary cryptococcosis caused by molecular type VGII (serotype B, MAT alpha) prevails in immunocompetent patients in the North and Northeast of Brazil, revealing an endemic regional pattern to this molecular type. Since 1999, C. gattii VGII has been involved in an ongoing outbreak in Canada, and is expanding to the Northwest of the United States, two temperate regions. Exposure to propagules dispersed in the environment, related to various organic substrates, mainly decomposing wood in and around dwellings, initiates the infection process. The present study investigated the presence of the agents of cryptococcosis in dust from dwellings in the upper Rio Negro, municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro in Amazonas state. Indoor dust was collected from 51 houses, diluted and plated on bird seed agar. Dark brown colonies were identified phenotypically, and genotypically by URA5 restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The mating type was identified using pheromone-specific primers. Three of the 51 houses were positive for C. gattii molecular type VGII, MATα and MATa, showing a high prevalence of this agent. MLST studies identified eight subtypes, VGIIb (ST7), VGIIa (ST20), (ST5) and 5 new subtypes unique to the region. For the first time in the state of Amazonas, C. gattii VGII MATα and MATa were isolated from the environment and correlates with endemic cryptococcosis in this state. This is the first description of MLST subtypes on environmental isolates in the Brazilian Amazon, indicating domiciliary dust as a potential source for human infection with different subtypes of C. gattii VGII MATα and MATa.
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Fábio
authors: F
authors: Brito-Santos
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Gláucia Gonçalves
authors: GG
authors: Barbosa
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Luciana
authors: L
authors: Trilles
authors: National Institute for Quality Control in Health, INCQS/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Marília Martins
authors: MM
authors: Nishikawa
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Bodo
authors: B
authors: Wanke
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Sydney Medical School-Westmead Hospital, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, The University of Sydney, Westmead Millennium Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: Wieland
authors: W
authors: Meyer
authors: Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Systematics, Institute Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Filipe Anibal
authors: FA
authors: Carvalho-Costa
authors: Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Márcia dos Santos
authors: Mdos S
authors: Lazéra
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor; D001938:Brazil; D056285:Cryptococcus gattii / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004391:Dust; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D004391:Dust