Experimental Cryptococcosis Produced by the Ingestion of Virulent Organisms

Abstract

THE lungs are usually considered to be the primary portal of entry for the pathogenic yeastlike fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans. The appearance of the lungs at autopsy of human beings dying of cryptococcosis has suggested that these organs were the first to become infected. The clinical histories of many patients have offered further evidence, since symptoms of pulmonary disease have often long antedated the terminal signs of Central-nervous-system involvement.^{1 , 2} However, in some cases, lesions of the lung due to infection by these pathogenic organisms cannot be demonstrated at autopsy, despite extensive tissue involvement elsewhere. Symptoms of meningoencephalitis have frequently been . . .