Spontaneous infection of animals with Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii

Natural infections in a wide variety of animals due a Cryptococcus neformans and C. gattii (formerly C. neoformans var. gattii) have been well demonstrated. Most common mammalians affected by Cryptococcus are dogs, cats, rats, horses, cows, goats, primates, and koalas. Cryptococcosis in those animals could be local infections affecting nose, eyes oropharyngeal cavity, breast and skin, or systemic and disseminated infections including brain, meninges and lungs. Other non mammalian infected animals includes invertebrates and birds. It has been described natural outbreaks of cryptococcosis in certain concrete and limited geographical areas as in Zoological parks or in free areas like the case of outbreak of goat cryptococcosis observed in Spain. Most of publications in veterinary mycology did not describe the formerly biotypes of Cryptococcus and, of course, the serotype of the strain. One exception is the isolation in Australia of almost 43 cases of wild and captive koala (Phascolarc cinereus) infected by C. gattii (or C. neoformans var. gattii). This situation is not surprising because the close relationship among Eucalyptus trees and koalas. Most of these animals presented lung infections with dissemination to CNS. C. gattii has been considered as to present a restricted geographical distribution linked in many cases to the presence of Eucalyptus camaldulensis or other non European autochthonous trees. It was described five demonstrated important outbreaks of severe pulmonary cryptococcosis in goat's herds (Capra hircus) pacing in an continental climate area of Spain (Cȧceres, Extremadura). In all cases the etiologic agent were C. gattii B serotype, that was isolated from animal's autopsies from lung, liver and brain. Isolates have been characterized using RAPD and it was found the predominance of one pattern, present in all outbreaks. Pathogenicity factors of those strain have been determined. For a better knowledgement of epidemiology of animal cryptococcosis and their better mycological analysis of the etiological agents should be done.