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# MMWR News Synopsis for July 22, 2010
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/mmwr_news_synopsis_2207100637/
- Published: 2010-07-22T19:37:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:07:22.000Z
- Description: CDC's MMWR reports Cryptococcus gattii as an emerging Pacific Northwest infection, with 60 cases since 2004, mostly in people without HIV, and describes a laboratory-confirmed case of La Crosse virus neuroinvasive disease in an 8-year-old Missouri boy in August 2009.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import

#### Emergence of *Cryptococcus gattii* — Pacific Northwest, 2004–2010

CDC Division of News and Electronic Media  
**Phone: (404) 639-3286**

Cryptococcus gattii *is an emerging infection in the United States Pacific Northwest.* Unlike the more common *Cryptococcus neoformans*, most patients with *C. gattii* infection are not infected with HIV. Although *C. gattii* infections are rare, with only 60 infections reported since 2004, they can be severe or fatal. Common symptoms include prolonged cough, shortness of breath, headache, fever, and weight loss. Clinical signs can include pneumonia, meningitis, and cryptococcomas in the lungs, brain, and other tissues. If patients are experiencing these symptoms, they should visit their doctor. Clinicians should consider *C. gattii* as a possible etiology of cryptococcal infection among symptomatic patients, particularly HIV-negative patients, who live in or have visited the Pacific Northwest or other *C. gattii*\-endemic areas during the past year. In addition, clinicians should report suspected cases of *C. gattii* infection to their state health department and seek speciation of isolates from patients with suspected *C. gattii* infection.

#### 2\. La Crosse Virus Neuroinvasive Disease — Missouri, 2009

Kit Wagar  
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services  
**Phone: (573) 751-6062**

*La Crosse virus (LACV) neuroinvasive disease is a rare mosquito-borne disease that occurs mostly in the upper Midwestern and mid-Atlantic states.* In August, 2009, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services was notified of suspected LACV neuroinvasive disease in a boy aged 8 years from northwest Missouri. Laboratory testing at CDC confirmed LACV infection. An environmental examination identified multiple vector habitats, including tree holes and discarded tires near the patient’s home. This is the first reported case of LACV neuroinvasive disease in Missouri since 2002\. Because the mosquito vector (*Aedes triseriatus*) is distributed through Missouri and as far west as central Kansas and eastern Nebraska, health-care providers serving this region should consider LACV among patients with unexplained meningoencephalitis occurring during summer and fall.

#### 3\. Gastrointestinal Anthrax After an Animal-Hide Drumming Event — Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 2009

CDC Division of News and Electronic Media  
**Phone: (404) 639-3286**

*When investigating any anthrax case (cutaneous, inhalation, or gastrointestinal), public health agencies should consider that any exposure to animal-hide drums (making drum, playing drums, or participating in drumming events) carries a potential, although remote, risk for anthrax exposure.*Cases of cutaneous and inhalation anthrax have been reported in persons who have had exposures to imported animal-hide drums contaminated with *B. anthracis*. But, this report describes the first gastrointestinal anthrax case related to animal-hide drum exposures. Therefore, when investigating any anthrax case, public health agencies should consider any exposure to animal-hide drums as potential exposure sources. However, it is important to keep in mind that drumming circles are common activities, and given the extreme rarity of cases like the one reported here, the risk for infection is considered very low. Lastly, detection of unknown gram-positive bacilli from patients with illnesses consistent with *B. anthracis* infection should result in immediate notification of the health-care provider, laboratorians, and public health officials.

From CDC