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A positive cryptococcal antigen test may precede symptoms by 3 weeks in those with HIV/AIDS. Others may have re-activation of latent cryptococcal disease years later. In those with HIV, approximately 50% of people have a fever, but fever is rare in previously healthy and immunocompetent people with cryptococcosis.
Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated basidiomycetous yeast [1] belonging to the class Tremellomycetes and an obligate aerobe [2] that can live in both plants and animals. Its teleomorph is a filamentous fungus , formerly referred to Filobasidiella neoformans .
The World Health Organization recommends a screen and treat approach to diagnose cryptococcal meningitis in those with HIV. All HIV-positive people with low CD4+ T cells should undergo cryptococcal serum antigen testing. Those who screen positive for serum cryptococcal antigen should undergo a lumbar puncture followed by treatment if the ...
Cryptosporidiosis, sometimes informally called crypto, [1] is a parasitic disease caused by Cryptosporidium, a genus of protozoan parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa.It affects the distal small intestine and can affect the respiratory tract in both immunocompetent (i.e., individuals with a normal functioning immune system) and immunocompromised (e.g., persons with HIV/AIDS or autoimmune ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungus that causes cryptococcosis, which can lead to pulmonary infection as well as nervous system infections, like meningitis. [25] [26] Histoplasma capsulatum is a species of fungus known to cause histoplasmosis, which can present with an array of symptoms, but often involves respiratory infection. [27] [28]
Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is a condition seen in some cases of HIV/AIDS or immunosuppression, in which the immune system begins to recover, but then responds to a previously acquired opportunistic infection with an overwhelming inflammatory response that paradoxically makes the symptoms of infection worse.
The hook effect refers to the prozone phenomenon, also known as antibody excess, or the postzone phenomenon, also known as antigen excess. It is an immunologic phenomenon whereby the effectiveness of antibodies to form immune complexes can be impaired when concentrations of an antibody or an antigen are very high.
Diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis can be made at low cost using an India ink stain of the CSF; however, testing for cryptococcal antigen in blood or CSF is more sensitive. [ 55 ] [ 56 ] A diagnostic and therapeutic difficulty is "partially treated meningitis", where there are meningitis symptoms after receiving antibiotics (such as for ...