Atypical isolate of Cryptococcus neoformans cultured from sputum of a patient with pulmonary cancer and blastomycosis.

Cryptococcus neoformans was isolated repeatedly from a patient with epider-moid carcinoma and pulmonary blastomycosis. The isolate was atypical in that it had only a minute capsule, caused persistent infection but no perceptible disease in mice, and initially appeared not to assimilate trehalose. Only after an incubation of 2 to 3 weeks did utilization of this substrate become apparent.