Coexistence of pulmonary tuberculosis with pulmonary and meningeal cryptococcosis. Report of a case.

by Cry ptococcus neoformans which may involve the lungs, skin or other parts of the body, but has a marked predilection for the brain and meninges. Cry plococcus neoformans was described as saprophytic yeast when first isolated from fruit juices by Sanfelice.’ A few years later, a similar organism was isolated from milk. Both of these isolates were proved to be pathogenic for laboratory animals. More recently Cryplococcus neo forms was isolated from milk, soil, skin, feces. Cryptococcosis is not transmitted from man to man and there is no evidence that man has ever contracted the disease from an infected animal. It is thought that the fungus enters the body, as a rule, through the respiratory tract. However, the organism may enter the body through the skin, nasopharyngeal mucosa, and occasionally through the intestinal tract. The pulmonary lesion is often not diagnosed until meningitis appears and the organisms are found in the cerebrospinal fluid. Meningitis usually does not develop without a preceding pulmonary lesion. Cryptococcosis has been found in association with Hodgkins’ disease, leukemias, histoplasmosis and sarcoidosis.’ This writer, in reviewing literature, was unable to find a case in which the coexistence of pulmonary and pleural tuberculosis with pulmonary and meningeal cryptococcosis was described. This is a report of such an instance.