Cryptococcosis Complicating Sarcoidosis1,2

A 23-year-old Negro man who was known to have had sarcoidosis for 2.5 years and was being treated with corticoids experienced pain beneath the left scapula. Radiographs revealed pulmonary infiltrates and changes of osteomyelitis in the rib. Cryptococcus neoformans was cultured from pus aspirated from a mass in the left chest posteriorly. Fifteen other patients who had both diseases have been reported; 8 had been treated with corticosteroids, in only 3 of whom, the cryptococcal infection was probably not causally related to administration of the steroids. It is suggested that sarcoidosis predisposes to cryptococcosis.