Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec;5(12):100921.
doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(24)00161-7. Epub 2024 Aug 24.

Geographical distribution of the Cryptococcus gattii species complex: a systematic review

Victoria Poplin  1 , Clarissa Smith  2 , Diego H Caceres  3 , Patricia F Herkert  4 , Olujimi Jegede  5 , George R Thompson 3rd  6 , John W Baddley  7 , Ilan S Schwartz  8 , Ryan Kubat  5 , Mark A Deka  9 , Mitsuru Toda  9 , Shawn R Lockhart  9 , Tom Chiller  9 , Ferry Hagen  10 , Nathan C Bahr  11
Affiliations

Geographical distribution of the Cryptococcus gattii species complex: a systematic review

Victoria Poplin et al. Lancet Microbe. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

The taxonomy of the Cryptococcus gattii species complex continues to evolve, and has been divided into five pathogenic species. The objective of this systematic review was to summarise the geographical distribution of the C gattii species complex and the species within the C gattii species complex. We searched PubMed for articles related to human, animal, ecological, or laboratory-based studies of C gattii species complex isolates with traceable geographical origin published from January, 1970, until September, 2021. Having extracted their geographical origin, we used ArcMap to construct maps according to the highest degree of resolution allowed by their reported taxonomy, to reflect the most likely area of transmission on the basis of published reports of human isolates. 604 such articles were included in the study. This review indicated that although C gattii species complex isolates have been reported globally, understanding their heterogeneous geographical distribution by species can have implications for researchers and clinicians in formulating research questions and considering diagnostic quandaries.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests FH is the Vice President of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology, treasurer of the Netherlands Society for Medical Mycology, chair of the Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology, Microbial Genomic Division, and received molecular diagnostic kits from Bruker Molecular Diagnostics. NCB was the Data and Safety Monitoring Board chair for NCT04335123. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. Most likely areas of geographical distribution of the Cryptococcus gattii species complex
This map incorporates human reports of all C gattii species members and specifically those of the C gattii species complex. Number of reports per category: very high (≥233), high (115–232), medium (33–114), and low (≤32).
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Most likely areas of transmission of Cryptococcus gattii sensu stricto (AFLP4/VGI)
Number of reports per category: very high (≥47), high (18–46), medium (5–17), and low (≤4).
Figure 3:
Figure 3:. Most likely areas of geographical distribution of Cryptococcus deuterogattii
Number of reports per category: very high (≥46), high (12–45), medium (4–11), and low (≤3).
Figure 4:
Figure 4:. Most likely areas of geographical distribution of Cryptococcus bacillisporus
Number of reports per category: very high (≥25), high (9–24), medium (4–8), and low (≤3).
Figure 5:
Figure 5:. Most likely areas of geographical distribution of Cryptococcus decagattii, Cryptococcus tetragattii, and the VGV lineage
Both C tetragattii and C decagattii have been reported in Mexico. An inset map of Mexico is included to depict the reported distribution of C decagattii and area with locally acquired cases. Number of reports per C tetragattii category: very high (≥36), high (16–35), medium (2–15), and low (≤1). Number of reports per C decagattii category: medium (≥4) and low (1–3); only two categories were used because there were only a few reports of C decagattii. The VGV lineage was not subcategorised given that there were very few reports of VGV.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kwon-Chung KJ, Bennett JE. High prevalence of Cryptococcus neoformans var gattii in tropical and subtropical regions. Zentralbl Bakteriol Mikrobiol Hyg A 1984; 257: 213–18. - PubMed
    1. Dixit A, Carroll SF, Qureshi ST. Cryptococcus gattii: an emerging cause of fungal disease in North America. Interdiscip Perspect Infect Dis 2009; 2009: 840452. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Springer DJ, Phadke S, Billmyre B, Heitman J. Cryptococcus gattii, no longer an accidental pathogen? Curr Fungal Infect Rep 2012; 6: 245–56. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kwon-Chung KJ, Fraser JA, Doering TL, et al. Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, the etiologic agents of cryptococcosis. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2014; 4: a019760. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hoang LMN, Maguire JA, Doyle P, Fyfe M, Roscoe DL. Cryptococcus neoformans infections at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (1997–2002): epidemiology, microbiology and histopathology. J Med Microbiol 2004; 53: 935–40. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources