Nosocomial Transmission of Cryptococcosis

Abstract

Human-to-human transmission of cryptococcosis is very rare.^1-3 An 80-year-old man (Patient A) was hospitalized because of pulmonary squamous-cell carcinoma. He received mechanical ventilation and was transferred to the medical intensive care unit on July 6, 2004. A new infiltrate in the right lung and pleural effusion associated with fever developed on August 15, 2004. Cultures of the pleural effusion drawn on August 19 yielded Cryptococcus neoformans (isolate A). The patient died of refractory respiratory failure on September 19, 2004.