Disseminated Cryptococcosis in an HIV-negative patient in South Africa: the elusive differential diagnosis

The presence of an opportunistic infection in a patient in sub-Saharan Africa is assumed to be due to underlying immunosuppression from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The presence of disseminated cryptococcosis in a non-HIV-infected patient is interesting as it is unique in our setti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammed Mitha, Preneshni Naicker, Prakash Mahida
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2010-05-01
Series:Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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Online Access:https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/813
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Summary:The presence of an opportunistic infection in a patient in sub-Saharan Africa is assumed to be due to underlying immunosuppression from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The presence of disseminated cryptococcosis in a non-HIV-infected patient is interesting as it is unique in our setting because the majority of infections are found in HIV-infected individuals. The protean manifestations of the disease and its predilection for immunosuppressed patients make cryptococcosis a challenging and elusive disease to diagnose in HIV-negative patients in our setting, especially due to limited resources. We present a case of disseminated cryptococcosis in an immunocompetent patient and discuss diagnostic and therapeutic features in this subset of patients.
ISSN:1972-2680