A case of pulmonary cryptococcosis in a free-living toad (Bufo bufo)

Pulmonary cryptococcosis was observed in a free-living adult female common toad (Bufo bufo) that was killed by a vehicle. Both lungs bad various eosinophilic, monomorphic, and spherical to elliptical organisms identified as Cryptoccocus spp. The yeasts were demonstrated by Grocott's silver method and the periodic acid-Schiff reaction and the capsule was positive for mucin with a mucicarmine stain. The agent was confirmed by immunohistochemistry, using the monoclonal antibody anti-Cryptococcus neoformans, and by a polymerase chain reaction-based method using a C. neoformans-specific primer. This report, to the best of our knowledge, represents the first case of cryptococcosis in a common toad.