A Queensland koala kept in a Japanese zoological park was carrier of an imported fungal pathogen, Filobasidiella neoformans var. bacillispora (Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii).

Filobasidiella neoformans var. bacillispora (anamorph: Cf7PtOCOCCuS neOformans var. gattii) (1 ) was isolated from a Queensland koala (Phascolactos cinereus adustus) kept in a zoologlCal park in Japan. To ourknowledge, this is first isolation of the variant yeast from an animal or human resident in Japan. A four-yearl01d male koala (bom in the Taropga Zoo, Australia) died of various neurological disorders, 1nCluding exophthalmo.s and swelling of the back of the left eye (Fig・ 1) and appetlte loss. Yeasts were isolated as pure cultures from nose discharge and autopsy materials (brain, nasal cavity, and lung), and diagnosed as Cryptococcus neoform?ns on the basis of the characteristic thick capsules. ExaminatlOn by an assimilation test, serologlCal test, and molecular biological test (2) revealed that the yeasts were F. neoformans var. bacillispora. Cryptococcosis is one of the four life-threatenlng, deepISeated