ABSTRACT
In addition to bacteria, viruses, and parasites, fungi are emerging as an increasingly common threat to human health, primarily as a consequence of immunosuppression caused by AIDS or medical treatments including high-dose steroid therapy or cancer chemotherapy. The basidiomycete Cryptococcus neoformans was first identified by Sanfelice in 1894 [1] and shortly thereafter associated with human disease as an opportunistic human fungal pathogen by Busse and Buschke [reviewed in 2]. Over the last two decades this fungal pathogen has emerged as the leading cause of fungal meningitis and infects both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals [35]. C. neoformans has also emerged as one of the model systems for the study of pathobiology at all scientific levels. This chapter introduces the organism and assesses the current status of the most important issues of its pathobiology.
