Latest Cryptococcus Stories

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New research conducted by biologists at Texas A&M University suggests that ZOLOFT(®), one of the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the world, also packs a potential preventative bonus -- potent mechanisms capable of inhibiting deadly fungal infections. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120502/DC99584LOGO) The findings are the result of a two-year investigation by Xiaorong Lin, assistant...

Most AIDS patients, when diagnosed with a fungal infection known simply as cryptococcosis, are assumed to have an infection with Cryptococcus neoformans, but a recent study from Duke University Medical Center suggests that a sibling species, Cryptococcus gattii, is a more common cause than was previously known. The difference between these strains could make a difference in treatment, clinical course, and outcome, said Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and chair of...

New research has shed light on the origins of a fungal infection which is one of the major causes of death from AIDS-related illnesses. The study, published today in the journal PLoS Pathogens, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the BBSRC, shows how the more virulent forms of Cryptococcus neoformans evolved and spread out of Africa and into Asia.Cryptococcus neoformans is a species of often highly aggressive fungi. One particular strain of the fungus "“ known as Cryptococcus neoformas variety...

New research shows that nearly 1 in 5 cases of infection with the potentially deadly fungus Cryptococcus neoformans are caused by not one but multiple strains of the pathogen. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the University of Minnesota Medical School reported their findings May 19 in the inaugural issue of mBioâ„¢, the first online, open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology."Koch's postulates are criteria establishing a causal relationship...

Calgary doctors research how to minimize complications from the diseaseCryptococcus disease is a rare but serious infection resulting from inhaling a toxic fungus often found in fir trees. Approximately 250 people have been infected with the disease in British Columbia since its emergence in 1999. The disease can cause meningitis, pneumonia and in 10 per cent of cases it can lead to death.Little is known about how the fungus leaves the bloodstream and enters the brain; however, researchers at...

Researchers reported Thursday that a possibly deadly fungus is spreading among people and animals throughout the northwestern United States and parts of western Canada. According to researchers, Cryptococcus gattii usually only infects people with compromised immune systems, such as persons with AIDS and those who have had transplants, but they say the new strain is genetically different. C. gattii is "worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise healthy people," said Edmond...

Highly dangerous Cryptococcus fungi love sugar and will consume it anywhere because it helps them reproduce. In particular, they thrive on a sugar called inositol which is abundant in the human brain and spinal cord.To borrow inositol from a person's brain, the fungi have an expanded set of genes that encode for sugar transporter molecules. While a typical fungus has just two such genes, Cryptococcus have almost a dozen, according to Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the Duke...

In a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified cells in blood that predict which HIV-positive individuals are most likely to develop deadly fungal meningitis, a major cause of HIV-related death. This form of meningitis affects more than 900,000 HIV-infected people globally"”most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of the world where antiretroviral therapy for HIV is not...

Health experts say a rare fungal disease that can be fatal to people has migrated from the Canadian woods to forests in Oregon and Washington. Cryptococcus gattii has killed 19 people in Canada since 1999 and a total of five people in Oregon and Washington since 2004, The Oregonian reported Saturday. The fungus lives in soil, water and trees, such as the Douglas fir, and likely spread down Interstate 5 from British Columbia on logging trucks, car tires and people's shoes, said Edmond Byrnes,...

U.S. scientists say they have determined how a deadly fungus microbe -- Cryptococcus neoformans -- evades the human immune system and causes disease. Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers said their findings may help scientists develop new therapies or vaccines against fungal infections, such as those that occur in AIDS and transplant patients who must take lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. Scientists have known the capsule surrounding C. neoformans is essential to its ability to...