First Record of Isolation of <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i> from Pigeon Droppings in Djibouti

Abstract

This study delineates the first isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans from the avian excreta in the city of Djibouti, Djibouti. A total of sixteen samples of old and dry pigeon droppings collected from different sites in Djibouti were examined for the presence of C. neoformans by employing a dilution technique. The organism was isolated from two (12.5%) of the 16 specimens. Both the isolates were recovered on Pal’s sunflower seed medium by observing light to dark brown coloured colonies of C. neoformans . However, no isolation of C. neoformans could be made on Sabouraud medium as all the plates were contaminated with rapidly growing moulds. However, none of the avian droppings yielded any dimorphic fungi such as Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis and Coccidiodes immitis . The microscopic morphology of both isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans in Narayan stain revealed circular to oval, single or budding yeast cells with thin capsules. The findings of this investigation clearly demonstrated that C. neoformans is prevalent in the environment of Djibouti, and Pal’s sunflower seed agar is an excellent differential medium for the rapid screening of environmental specimens. Further comprehensive studies of the prevalence of C. neoformans in various ecological habitats of Djibouti should be conducted. It is emphasized that Pal’s sunflower seed medium can be used a cheap diagnostic tool for the rapid laboratory diagnosis and epidemiological investigation of cryptococcosis particularly in the poor resource countries, which can hardly afford to conduct biochemical tests.