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Cutaneous lesions of disseminated cryptococcosis as the initial presentation of advanced HIV infection
Author(s) -
Calista Donato,
Stagno Alessandro,
Landi Christian
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3083.1997.tb00203.x
Subject(s) - medicine , fluconazole , cryptococcosis , amphotericin b , dermatology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , mycosis , presentation (obstetrics) , opportunistic infection , surgery , antifungal , immunology , viral disease
Cutaneous lesions of disseminated cryptococcosis as the first clinical evidence of acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is described in three cases. The clinical diagnosis was difficult because of the polymorphism of lesions, absence of general symptoms and the patients’unawareness of their HIV infection. Patient I had central nervous system involvement and a poor prognosis. Patients 2 and 3 had cutaneous lesions only and have remained in relatively good health at 18‐ and 14‐month follow‐ups, respectively, after treatment. The patients were treated with amphotericin B 0.5mg/kg per day for 6 weeks and oral fluconazole at 300 mg/day. The cutaneous lesions healed in 30 days. Because the high risk of relapse, long‐term suppressive therapy was instituted with oral fluconazole 300 mg/day. supplemented with three weekly amphotericin infusions. To the best of our knowledge, cutaneous cryptococcosis as the presenting sign of HIV infection has not been previously reported in medical literature.