TORULOSIS (CRYPTOCOCCOSIS) PRODUCING A SOLITARY PULMONARY LESION

Abstract

Torulosis, or cryptococcosis, is an often fatal disease due to a yeast-like organism and having a predilection for the central nervous system, with the lungs as the second commonest site of involvement. It has been considered a rare disease, but many cases are probably overlooked, owing to the lack of its consideration in the differential diagnosis, failure to culture the organism on suitable mediums for sufficiently long periods of time, and frequentconfusion of the organism with lymphocytes or red blood corpuscles in the spinal fluid.¹Notwithstanding, a total of nearly 200 cases have now been reported.²Of this number, only five cases of solitary lung involvement are on record (see the accompanying table).³To this meager group we add a sixth, which is considered worthy of publication not only because of its rarity but also because it simulated tumor of the lung, eventually leading to