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. 2022 Jul 10;10(7):1388.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10071388.

Epidemiology and Mortality of Cryptococcal Disease in Guatemala: Two-Year Results of a Cryptococcal Antigen Screening Program

Narda Medina  1 , Juan Luis Rodriguez-Tudela  2 , Juan Carlos Pérez  3 , Danicela Mercado  3 , Oscar Bonilla  3 , Eduardo Arathoon  1   3 , Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo  2   4
Affiliations

Epidemiology and Mortality of Cryptococcal Disease in Guatemala: Two-Year Results of a Cryptococcal Antigen Screening Program

Narda Medina et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Cryptococcal disease is an important opportunistic infection among people living with HIV. The cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) can be detected before the clinical onset of meningitis and its screening is recommended. Here, we evaluated CrAg frequency, and describe the epidemiological characteristics and mortality at 180 days in a cohort of HIV patients from Guatemala. A total of 3457 patients were screened with a CrAg lateral flow assay in serum between January 2017 and December 2018. CrAg positivity was 11.5% in patients with ≤100 CD4/mm3, 8.7% in patients with <200 CD4/mm3, and 6.3% in patients with <350 CD4/mm3. In Latin America, we estimated 9.2% CrAg positivity (IC95% 7.9−10.7%) in patients with ≤100 CD4/mm3. Among patients newly diagnosed with HIV, we estimated 4416 incident cases per year in Latin America in those with <200 CD4/mm3 and 5289 in those with <350 CD4/mm3. In addition, we calculated the burden in people not on ARV or without viral suppression and found 28,672 cases. CrAg screening should be considered in patients who have a CD4 cell count < 350 cells/mm3. Cryptococcal meningitis was associated with 30.8% mortality in Guatemala. Global access to diagnosis as well as to liposomal amphotericin B and flucytosine is a priority.

Keywords: Guatemala; Latin America; PLWHIV; cryptococcal antigen; meningitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

In the last three years, A.A-I. has received honoraria as a speaker from Gilead Sciences and Pfizer outside the submitted work. E.A. has received honoraria from GILEAD for educational conferences and participation in advisory board meetings. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequencies of cryptococcal antigenemia in LATAM among patients with ≤100 cells/mm3 and those with AHD (<200 CD4/mm3) [9,10,11,12,13,14].
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Overall mortality among patients with a positive CrAg serum. (B) Overall mortality among patients with a positive CrAg serum and cryptococcal meningitis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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