Evaluation of new anti-infective drugs for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis. Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Food and Drug Administration.
Cryptococcus neoformans may infect persons with intact or compromised host defenses. Clinical manifestations generally correlate directly with the degree of immunosuppression. Treatment is prescribed on the basis of the severity of disease and the degree of immunosuppression. Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common clinical form of cryptococcal infection and the most amenable to study in clinical trials. The current standard of care for cryptococcal meningitis is therapy with amphotericin B. Despite clinical improvement and microbiological suppression of the organism at the completion of therapy, the microbiological outcome will be identified as presumptive persistence if treatment is continued. Patients should be observed for 1 year after completion of therapy before a final assessment is made.
Lentnek
A
A
Department of Medicine, Helene Fuld Medical Center, Trenton, New Jersey.
Sande
M A
MA
Whitley
R J
RJ
McCracken
G H
GH
Scheld
W M
WM
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002985:Clinical Protocols / Q000592:standards; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic / Q000592:standards; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic / Q000592:standards; D017326:Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D016919:Meningitis, Cryptococcal / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012107:Research Design
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents