Active clinical trials for "Meningitis"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of melphalan in patients with persistent or recurrent neoplastic meningitis.

To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of fluconazole as treatment for acute cryptococcal meningitis in patients who have had an unsatisfactory response to or have experienced unacceptable toxicity with amphotericin B.

To evaluate and estimate the safety and efficacy of the combination of fluconazole and flucytosine as treatment for acute cryptococcal meningitis in patients with AIDS. Fluconazole and flucytosine have different mechanisms of action. Since fluconazole has not been associated with hematologic suppression and does not produce renal impairment that can result in higher serum flucytosine levels, this combination may be better tolerated than is amphotericin B plus flucytosine.

To evaluate the safety of escalating doses of RMP-7 administered in persons with HIV infection and cryptococcal meningitis and to determine the MTD of the drug. To evaluate the pharmacokinetics, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) penetration, of amphotericin B when administered with RMP-7.

To compare the safety and effectiveness of a new drug, fluconazole, with that of the usual therapy, amphotericin B, in the prevention of a relapse of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) in patients with AIDS who have been successfully treated for acute CM in the last 6 months. Cryptococcal meningitis is a life-threatening infectious complication of AIDS. Because relapse after treatment occurs in over 50 percent of cases, chronic maintenance therapy with intravenous (IV) amphotericin B is usually given. However, amphotericin B is not always effective, has toxic effects, and must be given by the intravenous route. Fluconazole is an antifungal agent that can be given orally and has been shown to be effective against cryptococcal infections in animals and against acute CM in a few AIDS patients. Also, the side effects experienced by over 2000 patients or volunteers given fluconazole have seldom been severe enough to require withdrawal of the drug.

To evaluate the effect of corticosteroids on reducing elevated intracranial pressure in cryptococcal meningitis. To evaluate the safety of corticosteroids in patients with cryptococcal meningitis and intracranial hypertension. In AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis, a correlation has been found between early death and elevated intracranial pressure. Since dexamethasone has been found to reduce intracranial pressure resulting from other forms of meningitis, it may be of benefit in AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis.

To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of amphotericin B plus flucytosine (5-fluorocytosine) compared to amphotericin B alone for a first episode of acute cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients, and to compare the effectiveness and safety of fluconazole versus itraconazole. At least 10 percent of patients with a low CD4 count and HIV infection will develop meningitis due to Cryptococcus neoformans. More effective treatments than the standard therapy need to be explored.

Study for performance evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx® Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel in comparison with other chosen comparator methods.

Cryptococcal Meningitis continues to be one of the most devastating AIDS defining illness in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the availability of azoles such as fluconazole for treatment, mortality remains high with some studies showing 100% mortality. The investigators designed a study to determine if timing of the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in patients with cryptococcal meningitis and HIV would improve survival. The investigators hypothesis was that early initiation of ART result in improved mortality for patients with HIV and cryptococcal meningitis.

The aim of this study is to provide information on the persistence of bactericidal antibodies following Menactra booster vaccination in study MTA77 ( NCT01442675). Objective: To evaluate the persistence of antibody responses (determined by a serum bactericidal assay using human complement (SBA-HC)) approximately 4 years after the administration of a booster dose of Menactra vaccine in trial MTA77