TORULA INFECTION OF THE LUNGS AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Abstract

Torula infection is recognized as a rare disease caused by a yeastlike parasitic fungus belonging to the fungi imperfecti which seems to have a special predilection for the central nervous system and lungs. Cryptococcus hominis has recently come into rather general use as the name for the pathogenic organism of this disease. According to Freeman,¹Zenker's report in 1861 of a case in which involvement of the central nervous system occurred probably represents the first description of torula infection in man. As early as 1901 Vuillemin²first used the term C. hominis for the yeastlike organism found in the lesions of European blastomycosis. Frothingham,³studying a tumor-like mass in the lung of a horse in 1902, discovered and described the yeastlike fungus causing the lesion. After cultural examinations and animal inoculations, he concluded the pulmonary lesion in the horse was caused by a torula. There seems little