MycoRant

Cottontop tamarin (Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 & GDFL)

In an unusual case of mycosis, a monkey at the Chattanooga Zoo in Tennessee has died after contracting an infection with the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. The case is all the more sad since the animal was a rare cottontop tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) born in captivity, only just last May. According to Endangered monkey dies at Chattanooga Zoo:

After taking her to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Veterinarian School, personnel discovered that Maya developed Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus that lives in both plants and animals. The fungus often is difficult to diagnose until symptoms are too advanced to treat, officials said.

The other cottontops in the zoo are so far free of the disease and are under close observation.

Cryptococcosis in Animals

Cryptococcus infections in animals are not unusual. In fact, a body of literature exists describing cases in cats, dogs, cattle, sheep, goats, horses and birds. Transmission from animals to humans is rare but can happen. Bird droppings are most often suspect in such cases.

From the animal’s appearance, I’d say it could have been the inspiration for the sky demon that showed up on an airplane wing in an episode of The Twilight Zone (and the movie too) to terrorize an unfortunate passenger.

C. neoformans with polysaccharide capsule (from Iron Regulation and an Opportunistic AIDS-Related Fungal Infection. Gross L, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/12/2006, e427)

More on Cryptococcus in animals:

Cryptococcosis (PDF) (with a good section on non-human animal infections)

Cryptococcosis neoformans [sic] in cats

Canine and Feline Cryptococcosis

The CDC Cryptococcus Website

Google search results for Cryptococcus in monkeys

Tags: animal mycoses, cottontop tamarin, cryptococcosis, Cryptococcus neoformans