Investigation in Central Italy of the possible association between Cryptococcus neoformans var. Gattii and Eucalyptus camaldulensis.

The authors present a worldwide review of isolations of Cryptococcus neoformans, var. neoformans and C. neoformans var.

[Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. History, epidemiology, etiological, hyphotheses].

The history of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is shortly reviewed beginning with the Westminster parliament act in the year 1755 up to the description in 1996 of the variant of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, transmitted from cattle to man by alimentary route. The epidemiological patterns of encephalopathies of the various animal species and of the four encephalopathies up to date reported in man are shortly described: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia. Etiological hypotheses are discussed until the identification of Prions: PrPcell, on the surface of normal cells, PrPscr in the brain of humans and animals dead for these diseases.

Anti-Malassezia furfur antibodies in the population.

The authors carried out research into anti-Malassezia precipitating antibodies in the population, specifying the distribution by age and sex. A total of 868 serum specimens from subjects of both sexes, aged between 0 and 80 years, were studied. An immunoelectroprecipitation reaction was used using a M.

Cryptococcosis in domestic mammals.

After a brief review of cryptococcosis in dogs and cats from the literature from 1980 to 92, three cases in dogs (two epidemiologically strictly connected) and two in cats are reported. In the three dogs and in one of the two cats lesions were seen in many sites, but only one dog and one cat had a central nervous system localization. The cutis was affected in the three dogs and in one cat; in two of the dogs it was probably the primary lesion, and in the cat it was the only lesion.