Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis of Cryptococcus neoformans meningoencephalitis in HIV-infected patients Authors

INTRODUCTION — Disseminated Cryptococcus neoformans infection is a serious opportunistic infection that occurs in patients with untreated AIDS [1]. Although cryptococcal infection begins in the lungs, meningitis is the most frequently encountered manifestation of cryptococcosis among those with advanced immunosuppression. However, the infection is more properly characterized as "meningoencephalitis" rather than meningitis since the brain parenchyma is almost always involved on histologic examination [2,3].