Geomedical aspects of neurological cryptococcosis
Sutherland, J.M.; Edwards, V.E.
Proceedings of the Australian Association of Neurologists 9: 99-103
1973
ISSN/ISBN: 0084-7224 PMID: 4578246 Document Number: 67215
Data on cases of Cryptococcus neoformans infection seen in Brisbane during 1959-70 are analysed [RMVM 7, 3515. Individual and racial susceptibility and geographic and occupational factors are discussed. In all, 34 cases of neurological cryptococcosis and 29 of pulmonary infection were seen. There were no aborigines among the 29 patients with pulmonary infection, in accordance with the suggestion that this disease has a predilection for the white man [RMVM 6, 3357]. Neurological cryptococcosis showed a high incidence in the coloured population and 11 of the 47 patients in this group were coloured (10 aborigines, 1 a Torres Strait Islander). Of these 11, 6 were males and 5 females, in contrast with the marked male preponderance (28 males: 8 females) among Europeans. Evidence suggested that rural residence and exposure to animals are important factors in the incidence of neurological cryptococcosis, while pulmonary infection does not apparently occur predominantly in outdoor workers. Of the patients with neurological infection, 17 lived in regions north of the tropic of Capricorn (9 yr incidence rate 4.7/100 000) and 12 lived south of the tropic of Capricorn (0.9/100 000). In contrast, 20 of the patients with pulmonary infection were from Brisbane.