Active clinical trials for "Cryptococcosis"

Early post-discharge mortality is high among HIV-infected Zambians admitted to the hospital. Likely this is in part due to missed opportunities to identify lethal coinfections and optimize HIV care during admission (and before discharge). In this study the investigators will develop and pilot a new approach to inpatient HIV care that follows international guidelines for management of advanced HIV disease.

The VFHCS is a long-term prospective cohort study of HIV infected patients from a resource-poor rural setting in India. The aim of the study is to use data collected from routine clinical care in order to describe the epidemiology of HIV and its related conditions in the investigators area, and to study the effectiveness of health interventions in a "real-world" setting (implementation and operational research).

Corticosteroids exposure is a common risk factor for invasive fungal infections. Systemic corticosteroid therapy treats several medical conditions, including rejection in solid organ transplant recipients, malignancy, and autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. Corticosteroid exposure is a well-known risk factor for developing PJP. Still, it remains unclear how prior corticosteroid exposure influences the presentation, severity, and mortality of opportunistic fungal infections. The investigators aim to prospectively characterize the corticosteroid use as a dose response to inform risk of invasive fungal infections.

This 5-year study will follow the course of disease in previously healthy patients with cryptococcosis who developed the disease for no identifiable reason. Individuals with a positive culture of Cryptococcus neoformans 18 years of age and older without HIV infection or other condition predisposing to cryptococcosis (such as high-dose corticosteroid therapy, sarcoidosis, or a blood cancer) may be eligible for this study. Candidates who test positive for HIV infection may not participate. Participants will have a physical examination, medical history, routine blood tests and assessment of disease activity upon entering the study. Patients who may have active cryptococcosis will also have a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and additional blood tests. Following the initial evaluation, patients receiving treatment for cryptococcosis will come to the NIH Clinical Center as needed to manage their disease, typically no less than every 3 months. Other patients will be seen every 6 to 12 months. The visits will include a medical history, physical examination, and blood and urine tests. ...

Cryptococcal meningitis or "Crypto" is a life threatening fungal infection around the brain that requires hospitalization for treatment for 14 days and then continued therapy. Crypto causes 15-20% of HIV/AIDS-related deaths worldwide. However, this infection can be detected before one develops symptoms and becomes ill. People can be screened for infection by a blood test to detect "cryptococcal antigen," (called CrAg), which is part of the fungus, in blood. The World Health Organization and over 22 countries worldwide recommend CrAg screening of all persons with advanced AIDS entering or re-entering into HIV care. However, it is not known how best to treat people with cryptococcal antigen in their blood, who don't otherwise yet have symptoms of infection around their brain. If no treatment is given, almost all people will develop infection of the brain and/or die. International guidelines suggest using both HIV medicines and an anti-fungal medicine, called fluconazole, to treat this early infection. However, despite this treatment approximately 1 in 4 people may get sick and/or die. Researchers have recently discovered another medicine that may work against the Cryptococcus fungus. This medicine is called Sertraline, and it is actually a medicine that has been used for more than 25 years to treat depression (sadness). Sertraline is one of the most commonly used medicines worldwide. The purpose of this research clinical trial is to determine if standard fluconazole antifungal therapy plus a high dose of Sertraline, will be better than standard fluconazole therapy alone for treating early disseminated cryptococcal infection in persons who are asymptomatic and do not yet have infection of the brain (i.e. meningitis). This study seeks to test if Sertraline will improve survival through 6-months. Prior studies have shown that >90% of those who survive 6-months will survive >5 years.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Vfend for the treatment of fungal infections

The purpose of this study is to assess the pharmacokinetics (how the drug is absorbed in the body, distributed within the body, and how it is removed from the body over time) of itraconazole (ITCZ) oral solution in participants with Systemic Fungal Infection (SFI) and those with febrile (with fever) neutropenia (FN, decrease in white blood cells) suspected of fungal infection.

The purpose of this study is to determine if initial therapy with ABLC at 10/mg/kg/d for 7 days are at least effective as ABLC at 5.0 mg/kg/d X 14 days as induction treatment of patients with disseminated cryptococcosis and HIV.

Recruitment of at least 10 adult patients (men and women) among individuals affected and admitted to the hospitals identified for the clinical study. All patients shall be between 18 and 75 years of age, with confirmed diagnosis of cryptococcosis or aspergillosis . During therapy (14 days) and examination (28 days), the patients will be subject to 7 doctor's visits (day 1,3,7,10,14,21, and 28).

This will be a stepped wedge randomized trial design to evaluate the implementation of cryptococcal antigen (CRAG) screening and preemptive anti-fungal therapy of HIV-infected persons entering antiretroviral therapy (ART) outpatient treatment in Uganda. Those who are ART eligible with a CD4≤100 cells/mcL will have a serum/plasma CRAG performed by lateral flow assay. Those who are CRAG-positive and asymptomatic will be treated with high dose fluconazole. After 6 months survival with retention-in-care will be compared between those who are CRAG+ and CRAG negative