Today I stumbled across this story on NPR about the source of Cryptococcus gattii (formerly Cryptococcus neoformans var gattii) infections in California. The short answer: trees. What’s notable about this discovery? A high-school student (Elan Filler) is a co-author of the paper.
You can read the paper in PLOS Pathogens.
You can read about this organism, diagnostic testing, and treatment on the CDC website.
–Kelly Swails, MT(ASCP), is a laboratory professional, recovering microbiologist, and web editor for Lab Medicine.
Lablogatory 