Volume 17, Number 2—February 2011
Research
Risk Factors for Cryptococcus gattii Infection, British Columbia, Canada
Laura MacDougall
, Murray Fyfe, Marc Romney, Mike Starr, and Eleni Galanis
, Murray Fyfe, Marc Romney, Mike Starr, and Eleni GalanisTable 3
Risk factors for Cryptococcus gattii infection as evaluated by case−control study and population-based comparison, British Columbia, 1999–2007*
| Risk factor | Case−control study† |
Population comparison‡ |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluated | Association with disease | Evaluated | Association with disease | ||
| Age | Yes | None | Yes | Positive | |
| Sex |
No |
Yes |
None |
||
| Oral steroid use |
Yes |
Positive |
No |
||
| Invasive cancer |
Yes |
None |
Yes |
Positive |
|
| Pneumonia |
Yes |
Positive |
No |
||
| Other lung problems§ | Yes | Positive | No | ||
| COPD |
No |
Yes |
None |
||
| Asthma |
Yes |
None |
Yes |
None |
|
| Current smoker |
Yes |
None |
Yes |
Positive |
|
| HIV infection |
No |
Yes |
Positive |
||
| Environmental exposures | Yes | Negative¶ | No | ||
*COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
†n = 30 matched pairs.
‡n = 218 case-patients with C. gattii infection.
§Includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis, COPD, sarcoidosis.
¶Negative associations were found for cutting/chopping wood, pruning, and cleaning up branches.
