The value of cryptococcal serum antigen screening among HIV-positive/AIDS patients in Kinshasa, Zaire.

ABSTRACT

PIP: A routine serum cryptococcal antigen screening of 450 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients at the Cliniques Universitaires de Kinshasa, Zaire, revealed that cryptococcal antigen was present in the sera of 55 (12.2%) of them. Health professionals collected cerebrospinal fluid of 44 patients from the positive serum group. The fungus Cryptococcus neoformans was identified by direct microscopy and culture in 29 (66%) of them. 6.6% of the originally screened HIV-positive/AIDS patients, therefore, had cryptococcal meningitis which is an opportunistic infection in these individuals. Serum screening for cryptococcal antigens could improve the prognosis of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected patients by introducing an appropriate antifungal treatment at an early stage.