Cryptococcal pneumonia simulating chronic eosinophilic pneumonia

Characteristics and outcomes of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV seronegative children in Beijing, China, 2002-2013

Background

Data regarding HIV-seronegative pediatric patients with cryptococcal meningitis (CM) have been very limited.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed non-HIV-infected in patients with CM from January 2002 through December 2013 in Beijing Children’s Hospital. Records of the all patients were obtained and compared.

Results

The 34 children had a median age of 5.6 years. Most of the patients were male (67.6 %). Only 23.5 % of the cases had identifiable underlying diseases. The sensitivity of the CSF cryptococcal antigen, India ink smear and CSF culture in our study were 81.5, 85.3 and 82.4 %, respectively. And the sensitivity of combinations of these tests was 91.2 %. Out of the 34 patients, 16 (47.1 %) had other organs involvement in addition to the brain. The main abnormal features via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were Virchow-Robin space dilatation (44.4 %), hydrocephalus (38.9 %), gelatinous pseudocysts (33.3 %), brain atrophy (33.3 %), meningeal enhancement (27.8 %) and local lesions (27.8 %). In total, 64.7 % of the patients were successfully treated at discharge, whereas treatment failed in 35.3 % of the patients.

Conclusions

Cryptococcal meningitis is an infrequent disease with a high fatality rate in children in China. The majority of patients were apparently healthy. Clinicians should consider cryptococcal infection as a potential pathogen of pediatric meningitis. Cryptococcal antigen, India ink smear and culture tests are recommended for diagnosis.

Pulmonary Cryptococcosis in the Immunocompetent Patient-Many Questions, Some Answers

Background. There are no prospective data regarding the management of pulmonary cryptococcosis in the immunocompetent patient. Clinical guidelines recommend oral fluconazole for patients with mild to moderate symptoms and amphotericin B plus flucytosine followed by fluconazole for severe disease. It is unclear whether patients who have histological evidence of Cryptococcus neoformans but negative cultures will even respond to drug treatment. We evaluated and managed a patient whose presentation and course raised important questions regarding the significance of negative cultures, antifungal choices, duration of therapy, and resolution of clinical, serologic, and radiographic findings.

Methods. In addition to our experience, to answer these questions we reviewed available case reports and case series regarding immunocompetent patients with pulmonary cryptococcosis for the last 55 years using the following definitions: Definite - Clinical and/or radiographic findings of pulmonary infection and respiratory tract isolation of C. neoformans without other suspected etiologies; Probable - Clinical and radiographic findings of pulmonary infection, histopathologic evidence of C. neoformans, and negative fungal cultures with or without a positive cryptococcal polysaccharide antigen.

Results. Pulmonary cryptococcosis resolves in most patients with or without specific antifungal therapy. Clinical, radiographic, and serologic resolution is slow and may take years.

Conclusions. Persistently positive antigen titers are most common in untreated patients and may remain strongly positive despite complete or partial resolution of disease. Respiratory fungal cultures are often negative and may indicate nonviable organisms.

[Non disseminated pulmonary cryptococcosis with very marked eosinophilia in solid-organ cancer]

Cryptococcal lung disease is usually diagnosed by chest X-ray abnormalities. Although no treatment exists for asymptomatically immunocompetent patients, a case with central nervous system (CNS) involvement as cryptococcus dissemination had a new chest X-ray abnormality during marked eosinophilia diagnosed as pulmonary cryptococcosis by lung biopsy. Eosinophilia may thus be associated with pulmonary cryptococcosis. We had seen reports of disseminated cryptococcosis with eosinophilia, so we conducted lumbar puncture and blood culture, but found no disseminated lesion or CNS involvement. Eosinophilia association with disseminated cryptococcosis has been reported, but not pulmonary cryptococcosis with solitary localized lung lesion with marked eosinophilia, making our case the first, in so far as we know reported of pulmonary cryptococcosis with a solitary localized lung lesion with marked eosinophilia.

Disseminated cryptococcal infection with eosinophilia in a healthy person

A 23-year-old man with no recent medical history was hospitalized complaining of high fever and cough. In addition to very marked eosinophilia, chest X-ray revealed extensive bronchovascular bundle thickening. Transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) showed moderate eosinophil infiltration. Cryptococcus neoformans infection was diagnosed, based on blood culture, cerebrospinal fluid culture, urine culture, and lung biopsy specimens. The eosinophilia was successfully alleviated by treatment for cryptococcal meningitis. Furthermore, cryptococcal sepsis resolved with amphotericin B and 5-flucytosine treatment. Eosinophilia commonly occurs following chronic Aspergillus infection, but the present case suggests the involvement of Cryptococcus in another mechanism for eosinophilia.

Pulmonary cryptococcosis in the immunocompetent host. Therapy with oral fluconazole: a report of four cases and a review of the literature

Isolated pulmonary cryptococcosis (IPC) is an infrequently diagnosed infection, the management of which is not well defined. In past years, IPC traditionally has not been treated in the immunocompetent host, given its perceived benign and self-limited course and the toxicity associated with amphotericin B. However, some patients manifest prominent and disabling symptoms, and infection occasionally may disseminate. Fluconazole is active against Cryptococcus neoformans, is easily administered, and has an excellent safety profile. We present four healthy hosts with IPC who were treated with oral fluconazole for 6 to 8 weeks. A review of the literature was conducted to identify other cases of IPC in healthy hosts who were also treated with fluconazole. Our results and the limited experience reported in the literature suggest that fluconazole may be an appropriate choice for the treatment of IPC in the immunocompetent host. Indications for treatment are not defined, but symptomatic patients, those with multiple nodules or extensive infiltrates on chest radiographs, and/or those testing positive for serum cryptococcal antigen might be potential candidates for therapy.

IL-5 Is Required for Eosinophil Recruitment, Crystal Deposition, and Mononuclear Cell Recruitment During a Pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans Infection in Genetically Susceptible Mice (C57BL/6)

CBA/J (highly resistant), BALB/c (moderately resistant), and C57BL/6 (susceptible) mice displayed three resistance patterns following intratracheal inoculation of Cryptococcus neoformans 52. The inability to clear the infection correlated with the duration of the eosinophil infiltrate in the lungs. The role of IL-5 in promoting the pulmonary eosinophilia and subsequent inflammatory damage in susceptible C57BL/6 mice was investigated. C57BL/6 mice developed a chronic alveolar, peribronchiolar, and perivascular eosinophilia following C. neoformans infection. This resulted in the accumulation of intracellular Charcot-Leyden-like crystals in alveolar macrophages by wk 4 and the extracellular deposition of these crystals in the bronchioles with associated destruction of airway epithelium by wk 6. IL-5 mRNA was expressed in the lungs, and injections of anti-IL-5 mAb prevented eosinophil recruitment and crystal deposition but did not alter cryptococcal clearance. Depletion of CD4+ T cells (but not CD8+) ablated IL-5 production by lung leukocytes in vitro and eosinophil recruitment in vivo. Neutralization of IL-5 also inhibited the recruitment of macrophages, CD8+ T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes by 47 to 57%. Anti-IL-5 mAb inhibited CD4+ T lymphocyte recruitment by 30% but did not affect neutrophil recruitment. Thus, the development of a chronic eosinophil infiltrate in the lungs of C. neoformans-infected C57BL/6 mice is a nonprotective immune response that causes significant lung pathology. Furthermore, IL-5 promotes the recruitment and activation of eosinophils, resulting in the recruitment of additional macrophages and lymphocytes into the lungs.