Epidemiological evidence for dormant Cryptococcus neoformans infection

To date, the time of acquisition of a Cryptococcus neoformans infectious st rain has never been studied, We selected a primer, (GACA)(4), and a probe, CNRE-1, that by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and rest riction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), respectively, regrouped strain s from control samples of C. neoformans var. grubii environmental isolates according to their geographical origins. The two typing techniques were the n used to analyze 103 isolates from 29 patients diagnosed with cryptococcos is in France. Nine of the 29 patients lived in Africa a median of 110 month s prior to moving to France; 17 of the patients originated from Europe. Res ults showed a statistically significant clustering of isolate subtypes from patients originating from Africa compared to those from Europe, We conclud e that the patients had acquired the C, neoformans infectious strain long b efore their clinical diagnoses were made.