Cryptococcal meningitis: A neglected NTD?

S.F. Molloy (1) , T. Chiller (2) , G.S. Greene (2) , J. Burry (3) , N.P. Govender (4) , C. Kanyama (5) , S. Mfinanga (6) , S. Lesikari (6) , Y.N. Mapoure (7) , C. Kouanfack (8) , V. Sini (8) , E. Temfack (7) , D.R. Boulware (9) , F. Dromer (10) , D.W. Denning (11) , J. Day (12) , N.R.H. Stone (1) , T. Bicanic (1) , J.N. Jarvis (13, 14, 15) , O. Lortholary (10) , T.S. Harrison (1) , S. Jaffar (16) , A. Loyse (1)

1 University of London [London]
2 CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Atlanta]
3 Médecins Sans Frontières
4 University of Cape Town
5 UNC Project - University of North Carolina Project-Malawi
6 National Institute of Medical Research
7 CHU de Yaoundé
8 Hôpital Général de Douala
9 UMN - University of Minnesota [Twin Cities]
10 Mycologie moléculaire
11 GAFFI - Global action fund for fungal infections [Geneva]
12 University of Oxford
13 LSHTM - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
14 University of Pennsylvania
15 University of Botswana
16 LSTM - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Although HIV/AIDS has been anything but neglected over the last decade, opportunistic infections (OIs) are increasingly overlooked as large-scale donors shift their focus from acute care to prevention and earlier antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation. Of these OIs, cryptococcal meningitis, a deadly invasive fungal infection, continues to affect hundreds of thousands of HIV patients with advanced disease each year and is responsible for an estimated 15%–20% of all AIDS-related deaths [1, 2]. Yet cryptococcal meningitis ranks amongst the most poorly funded “neglected” diseases in the world, receiving 0.2% of available relevant research and development (R&D) funding, according to Policy Cures’ 2016 Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-Finder) Report [3, 4].

Keywords: Death rates; Antifungals; Drug research and development; Morbidity; HIV; Cryptococcal meningitis; Amphotericin; Neglected tropical diseases

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Infectious diseases

S.F. Molloy, T. Chiller, G.S. Greene, J. Burry, N.P. Govender, et al.. Cryptococcal meningitis: A neglected NTD?. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2017, 11 (6), pp.e0005575. ⟨10.1371/journal.pntd.0005575⟩. ⟨pasteur-01570237⟩