Isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii from an Asian patient in France: evidence for dormant infection in healthy subjects.

We report the first case of cryptococcosis due to Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii in France. This Cambodian, non-AIDS patient had been living in France for 23 years when he developed cryptococcosis due to C. neoformans serotype B in 1985. It is possible that he was infected back in Asia or several months before, in Zaire, where he lived between 1981 and 1984. To our knowledge, this is the second case providing clinical evidence for reactivation of latent infection with C. neoformans. The mechanism is probably similar to that for C. neoformans var. neoformans.