ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Cryptococcosis is a global invasive mycosis with significant morbidity and mortality (1). Although the widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has lowered the incidence of cases in medically developed countries (2), the incidence of this infection is extremely high in areas where large numbers of HIV disease still persist and there is limited access to HAART and/or health care. It has recently been estimated that the global burden of HIV-associated cryptococcosis approaches a million cases per year with over 700,000 deaths (3). Even in medically developed countries, this infection continues to find new risk groups such as those receiving high doses of corticosteroids, monoclonal antibodies such as alemtuzumab (4) and infliximab (5), or other immunosuppressive agents used with transplantation. Therefore, modern medicine from the severely immunosuppressed patients with HIV infection or organ transplantation to the apparently normal host must deal with the management of this encapsulated yeast with a propensity to invade the central nervous system.
