Detection of Mycobacterium leprae by PCR testing of sputa from a patient with pulmonary cryptococcus coinfection in northern Australia.

A case of fever, sepsis, and chest lesions evident on a computed tomography scan of an indigenous man in northern Australia following burns to the feet is described. Sputum PCR testing revealed Mycobacterium leprae, and a fine-needle aspirate of the chest lesions demonstrated Cryptococcus coinfection.

Cryptococcus neoformans can be misidentified as a microsporidian: studies of lung lesions in leprosy patients.

Pulmonary lesions seen in autopsies of leprosy patients were initially thought to involve microsporidial infection. After immunohistochemical studies, it was concluded that the infectious microorganism was Cryptococcus neoformans.