title: Cryptococcal meningitis presenting with headache and a pustular eruption in a heart transplant patient.
abstract: Cryptococcosis is a fungal infection that typically occurs in severely immunocompromised patients. Here, we report the case of a heart transplant recipient who presented with cutaneous lesions and was diagnosed with disseminated cryptococcosis and then cryptococcal meningitis on the basis of positive Tzanck smear of the lesions, confirmed by culture, highlighting the importance of the skin as a window to systemic disease.
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Farber
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology and Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Micheletti
mesh_terms: D003453:Cryptococcosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D003881:Dermatomycoses / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006261:Headache / Q000382:microbiology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D008297:Male; D016919:Meningitis, Cryptococcal / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology
keywords: Cryptococcus neoformans; cutaneous cryptococcosis; disseminated cryptococcosis; heart transplantation; sarcoidosis