Isolates of Cryptococcus Neoformans from Non-HIV and Non-Transplant Hospitalized Patients

A retrospective cross-sectional study for patients with confirmed Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis (CM) in non-HIV-infected and non-transplant hosts in two class-A tertiary hospitals in Guangzhou, China is reported. 181 CM patients were enrolled during the study period, 48% (87/181) of which died. Underlying diseases were risk factor associated with higher mortality, among which diabetes mellitus ranked first for the incidence of CM. The mortality was not related to antifungal drug susceptibility. All strains were considered susceptible to amphotericin B, although interpretative breakpoints for amphotericin B have not yet been established. According to the CLSI guidelines, most of the strains in our study were susceptible to voriconazole, fluconazole, fluorocytosine and dose-dependently susceptible to itraconazle.