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Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5477-5479, Vol. 67, No. 10
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Evidence That Cryptococcus neoformans Is Melanized in Pigeon Excreta: Implications for Pathogenesis

Joshua D. Nosanchuk,1 Joseph Rudolph,1 Angel L. Rosas,2 and Arturo Casadevall1,2,*

Department of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases),1 and Department of Microbiology and Immunology,2 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461

Received 31 March 1999/Returned for modification 27 May 1999/Accepted 1 July 1999

Structures similar to the melanin "ghosts" of melanized cryptococcal cells were isolated from pigeon excreta contaminated with Cryptococcus neoformans, and their growth in pigeon excreta supported melanization. The results suggest that environmental C. neoformans cells are melanized and imply that initial infection may involve exposure to melanized cells.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: (718) 430-4259. Fax: (718) 430-8968. E-mail: casadeva{at}aecom.yu.edu.

Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5477-5479, Vol. 67, No. 10
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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