The war on cryptococcosis: A review of the antifungal arsenal

Abstract

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common central nervous system infection in the world today. It occurs primarily, but not exclusively, in immunocompromised individuals and despite substantial improvement in management of clinical events like AIDS, the numbers of cases of cryptococcosis remain very high. Unfortunately, despite several antifungal agents available for treatment, morbidity and mortality rates remain high with this fungal infection. In this Review, we will describe the treatments and strategies for success, identify the failures, and provide insights into the future developments/improvements for management. This sugar-coated yeast can play havoc within the human brain. Our goals must be to either prevent or diagnose disease early and treat aggressively with all our clinical tools when disease is detected.