Narrative review reveals high mortality and management challenges in Cryptococcus gattii infections, highlighting the need for improved diagnostics and targeted antifungal therapies.
Cryptococcus species are a major cause of life-threatening infections in immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts. While most disease is caused by Cryptococcus neoformans, Cryptococcus gattii, a genotypically and phenotypically distinct species, is responsible for 11-33% of global cases of cryptococcosis. Despite best treatment, C. gattii infections are associated with early mortality rates of 10-25%. The World Health Organization's recently released Fungal Priority Pathogen List classified C. gattii as a medium-priority pathogen due to the lack of effective therapies and robust clinical and epidemiological data. This narrative review summarizes the latest research on the taxonomy, epidemiology, pathogenesis, laboratory testing, and management of C. gattii infections.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Beardsley et al. (2022) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: