Cryptococcosis

An infection acquired by inhalation of soil contaminated with the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans, which may cause a self-limited pulmonary infection or disseminate, especially to the meninges, but sometimes to the skin, bones, viscera, or other sites.

Cryptococcosis is a defining opportunistic infection for AIDS, although patients with Hodgkin's or other lymphomas or sarcoidosis or those receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy are also at increased risk.

AIDS-associated cryptococcal infection may present with severe, progressive pneumonia with acute dyspnea and an x-ray pattern suggestive of Pneumocystis infection.

Primary lesions in the lungs are usually asymptomatic and self-limited

Pneumonia usually causes cough and other nonspecific respiratory symptoms. Rarely, pyelonephritis occurs with renal papillary necrosis development.

Most symptoms of cryptococcal meningitis are attributable to brain swelling and are usually nonspecific, including headache, blurred vision, confusion, depression, agitation, or other behavioral changes. Except for ocular or facial palsies, focal signs are rare until relatively late in the course of infections. Blindness may develop due to brain swelling or direct involvement of the optic tracts. Fever is usually low-grade and frequently absent.

Acanthosis nigricans is a pigmented skin lesion commonly present in the axilla which is a phenotypic marker for an insulin-receptor abnormality as well as a marker for adenocarcinoma, most commonly of gastric origin.

Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi (Filariasis)
 - the microfilaria of Wuchereria bancrofti or Brugia malayi (nematodes) are transmitted to man by the bite of infected mosquitoes (Anophele, Aedes, Culex).
 - microfilaria characteristically circulate in the bloodstream at night and enter into the lymphatics, where they mature and produce an inflammatory reaction resulting in lymphedema (elephantiasis) of the legs, scrotum, etc. 

Fungal
 
Superficial mycoses

1. Superficial mycoses→outermost layers of the skin or its appendages; skin, nails and/or hair.
2. Dermatophytoses transmitted by contact with man (anthropophilic; weak inflammatory response), animals (zoophilic; brisk inflammatory response), or contact with soil (geophilic; strongest inflammatory response).
3. Trichophyton→hair, skin, or nails; Microsporum → hair and skin; and Epidermophyton→skin alone.
4. The diagnosis is best made by culture of skin scrapings secured from the leading edge of the lesion.
 - use Wood's light to check for fluorescing metabolites.
 - direct KOH preparations of the scraped material
 
 Subcutaneous Mycoses
 
1. Subcutaneous mycoses are usually related to traumatic implantation into the skin.
2. Chromoblastomycosis, or verrucous (wart-like) dermatitis, is a chronic skin lesion associated with several pigmented fungi (Fonsecaea, Phialophora, and Cladosporium).
 - granulomatous reaction in subcutaneous tissue are pigmented, thick walled bodies are visible in tissue section.
3. Mycetomas (maduromycosis) are characterized by a localized, tumorous nodule (usually foot) that occurs in response to chronic progressive destruction of skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia, muscle and bone 

4. Sporotrichosis is caused by the dimorphous fungus, Sporothrix schenckii.
 - traumatic implantation of the fungus growing in soil, thus the association with "rose gardeners disease".
 - MC lymphocutaneous disease → painless nodule at inoculation site → chain of suppurating subcutaneous nodules that drain to the skin surface along the course of the lymphatics.

- cigar shaped yeast forms are seen in the suppurative nodules and asteroid bodies (Splendore-Hoeppi phenomenon) are noted within granulomatous microabscesses.
 - treatment: oral potassium iodide

Viral meningitis
1. Can be caused by many different viruses, including cytomegalovirus, herpes virus, rabies, and HIV.
2. CSF fluid from a spinal tap differs from that seen in a bacterial infection. It shows mononuclear cells, higher levels of protein, and normal levels of glucose.

Infectious Mononucleosis

It is an Epstein Barr virus infection in children and young adults.

Features

-Constitutional symptoms.
-Sore throat.
-Lymphnode enlargement.
-Skin rashes
-Jaundice.
-Rarely pneumonia, meningitis and encephalitis.

Blood Picture

- Total count of I0,000. 20,000 /cu.mm.
- Lymphocytosis (50-90%) with atypical forms. They are larger with more cytoplasm which may be vacuolated or basophilic. Nucleus may be indented. with nucleoli (Downy type I to III).
- Platelets may be reduced.
- Paul Bunell test (for heterophil antibody against sheep RBC) is positive