A rare fungus that can cause meningitis in adults is common in inner city children

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Spores for thought

A " rare " fungus that can cause meningitis in adults is common in inner city

children

A " rare " fungus that can cause meningitis in adults is common in inner city

children, say US researchers.

Goldman and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in

New York studied children living in the Bronx. They found that more than

half of the children were infected with Cryptococcus neoformans. The fungal

spores are spread by pigeons, cats, dogs and cockroaches, and can cause

meningitis in adults with weakened immune systems.

C. neoformans was thought to infect people only rarely. Although it has not

yet been shown to cause disease in healthy adults or children, it is

possible that it could cause flu-like symptoms, says Goldman and

colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Doctors may be diagnosing some children as suffering from viral infections,

when, in fact, anti-fungal drugs could treat them effectively, says the

team.

But much more work on how the fungus might affect children with healthy

immune systems is essential, say other researchers.

" We don't know enough about how this fungus affects children, " says Tom

on, an expert on C. neoformans at St. 's Hospital Medical

School, London. " It is possible the fungus causes short-term illness that is

controlled by the immune system. "

Long-term infection

Goldman's team measured antibody levels in 121 children aged between one

week and 21 years old. The researchers detected antibodies to the fungus in

50 per cent of children aged two to five, and in 70 per cent of children

aged over five years.

" We don't know whether these rates reflect a long-term infection or whether

the children are being re-infected from their environment, " says Goldman.

The researchers now want to pin down the kind of symptoms the fungus might

cause in children with normal immune systems. Goldman's next study will

follow the exposed children to determine whether the fungus really does

cause symptoms that had been thought to be caused by viruses.

More at: Pediatrics (Vol 107, p 66)

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1500 GMT, 8 May 2001

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