1. Cryptococcal antigenemia in people living with HIV and AIDS.
- Author
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Ahuja J, Soneja M, Wig N, Biswas A, Xess I, Singh G, Vibha D, and Nischal N
- Subjects
- Humans, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Antigens, Fungal, Cryptococcus, HIV Infections complications, HIV Infections drug therapy, HIV Infections epidemiology, Meningitis, Cryptococcal diagnosis, Meningitis, Cryptococcal epidemiology, Meningitis, Cryptococcal drug therapy
- Abstract
Aim: To assess the prevalence of cryptococcal antigenemia among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) with CD4 ≤100/mm
3 ., Design: This observational study was performed on PLHA with laboratory-confirmed CD4 ≤100/mm3 . All PLHA were recruited irrespective of their duration of HIV diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve, or ART failure., Methods: The prevalence of cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) was assessed in 102 PLHA, with CD4 ≤100/mm3 , using a latex agglutination test on serum samples. All the subjects were followed up for 3 months., Results: Amongst 102 PLHA, 62 (60.8%) and 40 (39.2%) patients were ART-naïve and ART failures, respectively, with 2.9% ( n = 3) having clinical features of meningitis and 6.8% ( n = 7) patients being asymptomatic CrAg-positive. At the 3 month follow-up, total mortality was 10.8%, of which 33.3% and 8.8% were among CrAg-positive and negative patients ( p = 0.05). Mortality in asymptomatic and meningitis symptomatic CrAg-positive patients was 1.03% ( n = 1) and 2.06% ( n = 2), respectively. Of note, five patients were lost to follow-up., Conclusion: Cryptococcal antigenemia is common among patients with CD4 ≤100/mm3 who were either ART naïve or had treatment failure. Asymptomatic patients who underwent pre-emptive therapy demonstrated good clinical outcomes.- Published
- 2023
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