Cryptococcus lung infection
A patient has returned from a 6 month stay in South America as they have developed chronic headaches. The patient also has a productive cough. She is admitted to hospital as there are consolidated patches in the lung and she has vague neurological symptoms. An astute medical scientist notices some unstained round spaces in the Gram stain and decides to perform a silver stain. The scientist recommends to the infectious disease physician that a test for cryptococcal antigen be performed on CSF. The sputum culture grows Cryptococcus gattii
Report Guide: Introduction must cover the conditions of Cryptococcus lung infection and cryptococcal meningitis. At least two illustrations are to be included in the introduction.
Method: A description of what tests needs to be performed to both process the clinical samples (sputum and CSF) and then to examine microscopy and culture (this includes identification of cultures and susceptibility testing).
Results: This will include at least two illustrations, one a typical microscopic finding and a picture of the agar culture growth. You should describe typical susceptibility findings for this organism.
Discussion: This will be a very important section. It should contain numerous citations and should review the literature for typical culture findings from cryptococcosis. Outstanding reports would describe the history of this particular species of cryptococcus.
References: A minimum of 10 references would be expected in Vancouver style referencing
