New antifungal therapy for fungal meningitis
My father contracted cryptococcal meningitis seven years ago and, according to his doctors, was days away from dying from it (he has fully recovered since, thankfully)<p>The problem, though, wasn&#x27;t treating it.  His neurosurgeon told me they treated it with the same medication they give women for yeast infections.  The problem was diagnosing it.  He&#x27;s not HIV positive nor has he had a transplant.  Apparently, in a small percentage of the population, the fungus makes it way to a non-immunocompromised brain.  It&#x27;s so small that, according to his neurosurgeon, they have to treat patients like him as if they were HIV positive&#x2F;transplant recipients because they don&#x27;t have enough data otherwise.<p>I&#x27;m glad to hear about this new therapy but, with my father at least, they weren&#x27;t able to properly diagnose until they did a biopsy on his brain.  So, it seems like improvements in diagnosis may be in order as well.