title: Report on novel environmental niches for Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in Colombia: Tabebuia guayacan and Roystonea regia.
abstract: Knowledge of the environmental distribution of C. neoformans/C. gattii is important in the epidemiology and ecology of the etiological agent, which causes cryptococcosis, a deadly disease worldwide. The aim of this report is to describe the presence of C. neoformans/C. gattii in new environmental niches in Colombia. A total of 837 environmental samples were collected from six different species of trees across four cities; molecular type was determined by PCR fingerprinting and RFLP. Molecular type VNI and VGIII were isolated from different species of trees, resulting in two novel niches for this pathogen: Tabebuia guayacan and Roystonea regia.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Microbiología, Instituto Nacional de Salud.
authors.forename: Norida
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vélez
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Microbiología, Instituto Nacional de Salud.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Escandón
mesh_terms: D028023:Arecaceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D002947:Cities; D003105:Colombia; D056285:Cryptococcus gattii / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005838:Genotype; D058889:Molecular Typing; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D029663:Tabebuia / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Colombia; Cryptococcus gattii; Cryptococcus neoformans; environment; niche