Contribution of the National Mycology Laboratory Network to Surveillance of Cryptococcosis in Argentina

Abstract

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common fungal infection of the central nervous system and the third most frequent neurological complication in AIDS patients. To understand the Argentinean epidemiology of cryptococcosis, several efforts have been made by the National Reference Laboratory in Clinical Mycology. In Argentina, reports of distribution and frequency of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii isolates are scarce and very little is known about its circulating genotypes and mating types. The National Mycology Laboratory Network and the National Reference Laboratory in Clinical Mycology joined forces to estimate the prevalence of cryptococcosis and to obtain and to analyse epidemiological data of this important fungal infection. Data presented here were recovered from 1998 to 2016 and represents an approximation to the actual situation of cryptococcosis in Argentina. These results could be useful to design future investigations.