Osteomyelitis due to Cryptococcus neoformans in advanced age. Case report and review of literature.

In an 84-year-old man cryptococcosis with a pronounced osteomyelitic course (involvement of a rib, two thoracic vertebrae, the sacrum and a femur) was diagnosed histologically post mortem, thus directing attention to cryptococcosis in advanced age. The presumptive chronic course of the Cryptococcus neoformans (Cr. n.) infection in this patient was ascribed to chronic kidney failure, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive lung disease. Special reference is made to the mycological and radiological diagnosis of cryptococcosis of the bones as well as to its pathogenesis, therapy and epidemiology.