Temperate Climate Niche forCryptococcus gattiiin Northern Europe

Anuradha Chowdhary,Corné H Klaassen,Ferry Hagen,Harbans S Randhawa,Teun Boekhout,Jacques F Meis

doi:10.3201/eid1801.111190

Abstract

Temperate Climate Niche for<i>Cryptococcus gattii</i>in Northern Europe

Highlights

We report environmental isolation of the primary pathogenic fungus C. gattii from a forest in Berg en Dal, the Netherlands, which extends its geographic distribution to the temperate climate of northern Europe
The remaining 3 strains, all originating from different hollows in a Douglas fir tree, were identified as C. gattii genotype AFLP4/VGI and mating type α
Genotype amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) 4/VGI C. gattii isolates have been implicated in human infections in that region, but to our knowledge, no environmental isolates have been found until now

Summary

Introduction

Temperate Climate Niche for Cryptococcus gattii in Northern Europe Montagna et al reported the first environmental C. gattii in Europe from the Mediterranean region of Italy; these authors isolated it from 11 (4.3%) of 255 samples of plant detritus of Eucalyptus camaldulensis trees collected from the residential locality of an autochthonous case of cryptococcal meningitis caused by C. gattii in Apulia [2]. We report environmental isolation of the primary pathogenic fungus C. gattii from a forest in Berg en Dal, the Netherlands, which extends its geographic distribution to the temperate climate of northern Europe.

Results

Conclusion