Cryptococcus SP isolation environmental: biochemistry and characterization

• Grant number: 13/21327-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Marinho
• Grantee: Cyndi Yuri Uchida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The genus Cryptococcus is composed of species of micro-organisms with potential pathogenic and other environmental saprophytes, being considered as an opportunistic pathogen that can affect domestic animals, especially dogs and cats, wild birds and men causing thus serious infections in immunocompetent or immunocompromised patients and, in the specific case of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, respectively. The etiologic agent corresponds to a fungus responsible for yeast processes nodular skin, and the lungs and the brain are the target organs. The major route of infection is the respiratory through inhalation of propagules in the environment. The variety neoformans is cosmopolitan and is related to various environmental sources such as contaminated soil by feces of birds, especially pigeons, while gattii is related to plants of tropical and subtropical regions, both remain latent for a long time, when present in excreta or decaying biological material. This study aims to investigate the presence of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii using environmental samples from areas of different locations from city of Araçatuba - São Paulo. The better understanding of the fungus's ecology, will allow us to get to know new environmental niches, thereby contributing to the development of Cryptococcus eco-epidemiological profile in order to develop strategies to restrain possible routes of transmission.