Cargando…

Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay

Despite access to antiretroviral therapy, mortality from cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is high among persons with advanced HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) is present several weeks to months before the onset of symptoms of meningitis and can be screened to prevent life...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Dhana, Ashar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3844251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24319464
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/640216
_version_ 1782293145280577536
author Dhana, Ashar
author_facet Dhana, Ashar
author_sort Dhana, Ashar
collection PubMed
description Despite access to antiretroviral therapy, mortality from cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is high among persons with advanced HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) is present several weeks to months before the onset of symptoms of meningitis and can be screened to prevent life threatening meningitis. Recently, the World Health Organisation recommended that a new rapid CrAg lateral flow ‘‘dipstick” assay (LFA) is to be used to screen HIV-infected persons with CD4 counts of less than 100 cells/µL. In this paper, we describe two cases of cryptococcosis with differing outcomes. In the first case, the new CrAg LFA was used as part of a screen and preemptive treatment strategy to prevent CM. In the second case, our patient had no access to the CrAg LFA and subsequently developed life threatening meningitis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of cryptococcosis diagnosed using this novel assay.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3844251
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher Hindawi Publishing Corporation
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38442512013-12-08 Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay Dhana, Ashar Case Rep Med Case Report Despite access to antiretroviral therapy, mortality from cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is high among persons with advanced HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) is present several weeks to months before the onset of symptoms of meningitis and can be screened to prevent life threatening meningitis. Recently, the World Health Organisation recommended that a new rapid CrAg lateral flow ‘‘dipstick” assay (LFA) is to be used to screen HIV-infected persons with CD4 counts of less than 100 cells/µL. In this paper, we describe two cases of cryptococcosis with differing outcomes. In the first case, the new CrAg LFA was used as part of a screen and preemptive treatment strategy to prevent CM. In the second case, our patient had no access to the CrAg LFA and subsequently developed life threatening meningitis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of cryptococcosis diagnosed using this novel assay. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2013 2013-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC3844251/ /pubmed/24319464 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/640216 Text en Copyright © 2013 Ashar Dhana. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Case Report
Dhana, Ashar
Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title_full Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title_fullStr Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title_full_unstemmed Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title_short Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis and Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis Using a Novel Point-of-Care Lateral Flow Assay
title_sort diagnosis of cryptococcosis and prevention of cryptococcal meningitis using a novel point-of-care lateral flow assay
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3844251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24319464
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/640216
work_keys_str_mv AT dhanaashar diagnosisofcryptococcosisandpreventionofcryptococcalmeningitisusinganovelpointofcarelateralflowassay