Naganishia albida

Synonymy:
Cryptococcus albidus, Cryptococcus diffluens

Naganishia albida  infections in humans are rare. 

A phylogenetic review by Liu et al. (2015) reclassified Cryptococcus albidus as Naganishia albida. N. albida has variable growth at 37oC and infections in humans are rare. Impaired cellular immunity is the most common risk factor with HIV infection and low CD4 counts a common comorbidity (Morales-Lopez and Garcia-Effron, 2021).

RG-1 organism.

Culture: 
Colonies (SDA) are cream-coloured smooth, mucoid, glabrous, yeast-like.

Microscopy: 
Globose to ovoid budding yeast-like cells, 3.5-8.8 x 5.5-10.2 μm. Pseudohyphae are absent.

India ink preparation: 
Positive - distinct thin capsules are present.

Physiological Tests: + Positive, - Negative, v Variable, w Weak, s Slow, nd No Data
Germ Tube - L-Sorbose v L-Arabinose + D-Glucitol +
Fermentation   Sucrose + D-Arabinose v 𝝰-M-D-Glucoside v
Glucose - Maltose + D-Ribose v D-Gluconate +
Galactose - Cellobiose + L-Rhamnose v DL-Lactate v
Sucrose - Trehalose +,w D-Glucosamime - myo-Inositol +
Maltose - Lactose v N-A-D-glucosamine - 2-K-D-Gluconate +
Lactose - Melibiose v Glycerol v D-Glucuronate +
Trehalose - Raffinose + Erythritol v Nitrate +
Assimilation   Melezitose + Ribitol v Urease +
Glucose + Soluble Starch v Galactitol v 0.1% Cycloheximide -
Galactose v D-Xylose + D-Mannitol + Growth at 37C v

Key features: 
Naganishia albida has variable growth at 37C. 

Antifungal susceptibility: Naganishia albida (Australian national data); MIC µg/mL. 
Antifungal No ≤0.03 0.06 0.125 0.25 0.5 1 2 4 8 16 32 ≥64
AMB 4           3 1          
FLU 4                     3 1
ISAV 2       1   1            
VORI 4       1   2     1      
POSA 4         1 2     1      
ITRA 4       2 1         1    
5FC 4                       4

References

  • Barnett, J.A., Payne, R.W. and Yarrow, D. (1983) Yeasts: characteristics and identification. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
  • de Hoog, G.S., Guarro, J., J. Gene, J., et al. (2020) Atlas of clinical fungi. 4th edition. Foundation Atlas of Clinical Fungi https://webshop.atlasclinicalfungi.org.
  • Fonseca, A., Boekhout, T. and Fell, J.W. (2011) Chapter 138, Cryptococcus Vuillemin (1901), in Kurtzman, C.P., Fell, J.W. and Boekhout, T. (eds), The Yeasts, a Taxonomic Study, 5th edition, pp. 1661-1737.
  • Fraser, M., Brown, Z., Houldsworth, M., et al. (2016) Rapid identification of 6328 isolates of pathogenic yeasts using MALDI-ToF MS and a simplified, rapid extraction procedure that is compatible with the Bruker Biotyper platform and database. Medical Mycology, 54, 80-88.
  • Liu, X.Z., Wang, Q.M., Goker, M., et al. (2015) Towards an integrated phylogenetic classification of the Tremellomycetes. Studies in Mycology, 81, 85-147.
  • Morales-Lopez, S.E. and Garcia-Effron, G. (2021) Infections due to rare Cryptococcus species. A literature review. Journal of Fungi, 7, 279.

 

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