It also affects healthy adults at a much lower frequency and severity as healthy hosts may have no or mild symptoms. Immune-competent hosts may not seek or require treatment, but careful observation may be important. Cryptococcal pneumonia has a potential to disseminate to the central nervous system (CNS) especially in immunocompromised individuals.Pulmonary cryptococcosis has a worldwide distribution and is commonly underdiagnosed due to limitations in diagnostic capabilities. Since pulmonary nodules are its most common radiological feature, it can clinically and radiologically mimic lung cancer, TB, and other pulmonary mycoses. The sensitivity of cultures and the Cryptococcal (CrAg) antigen with lateral flow device on serum are rarely positive in the absence of disseminated disease. Moreover, pulmonary cryptococcosis worsen the prognosis of cryptococcal meningitis. Cryptococcal meningitis
Cryptococcal meningitis (infection of the meninges, the tissue covering the brain) is believed to result from dissemination of the fungus from either an observed or unappreciated pulmonary infection. Often there is also silent dissemination throughout the brain when meningitis is present. People with defects in their cell-mediated immunity, for example, people with AIDS, are especially susceptible to disseminated cryptococcosis. Cryptococcosis is often fatal, even if treated. It is estimated that the three-month case-fatality rate is 9% in high-income regions, 55% in low/middle-income regions, and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa.
Unfortunately, there are currently no drug treatments that decrease these patients risk of dying in the longer term, at 3–12 months and beyond.Weak evidence suggests milk thistle extracts may improve survival in alcoholic liver disease and improve certain liver tests (serum bilirubin and GGT) without causing side effects, but a firm recommendation cannot be made for or against milk thistle without further study. The modified Maddreys discriminant function may be used to evaluate the severity and prognosis in alcoholic hepatitis and evaluates the efficacy of using alcoholic hepatitis corticosteroid treatment. Autoimmune hepatitis
Autoimmune hepatitis is commonly treated by immunosuppressants such as the corticosteroids prednisone or prednisolone, the active version of prednisolone that does not require liver synthesis, either alone or in combination with azathioprine, and some have suggested the combination therapy is preferred to allow for lower doses of corticosteroids to reduce associated side effects, although the result of treatment efficacy is comparative.Treatment of autoimmune hepatitis consists of two phases; an initial and maintenance phase. The initial phase consists of higher doses of corticosteroids which are tapered down over a number of weeks to a lower dose. If used in combination, azathioprine is given during the initial phase as well. Once the initial phase has been completed, a maintenance phase that consists of lower dose corticosteroids, and in combination therapy, azathioprine until liver blood markers are normalized. Treatment results in 66-91% of patients achieving normal liver test values in two years, with the average being 22 months.