This photomicrograph depicted numbers of Cryptococcus neoformans fungi, the etiologic agents responsible for the disease cryptococcosis. This slide was created from a lung specimen, and stained using the hemotoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining technique. Initially a pulmonary infection, cryptococcosis can become a systemically-disseminated disease leading to meningoencephalitis, or inflammation of the brain and its coverings, or meninges. Persons with HIV, or immunocompromised undergoing chemotherapy, are most susceptible.