Síle F Molloy, Cecilia Kanyama, Robert S Heyderman, Angela Loyse, Charles Kouanfack, Duncan Chanda, Sayoki Mfinanga, Elvis Temfack, Shabir Lakhi, Sokoine Lesikari, Adrienne K Chan, Neil Stone, Newton Kalata, Natasha Karunaharan, Kate Gaskell, Mary Peirse, Jayne Ellis, Chimwemwe Chawinga, Sandrine Lontsi, Jean-Gilbert Ndong, Philip Bright, Duncan Lupiya, Tao Chen, John Bradley, Jack Adams, Charles van der Horst, Joep J van Oosterhout, Victor Sini, Yacouba N Mapoure, Peter Mwaba, Tihana Bicanic, David G Lalloo, Duolao Wang, Mina C Hosseinipour, Olivier Lortholary, Shabbar Jaffar, Thomas S Harrison
BACKGROUND: Cryptococcal meningitis accounts for more than 100,000 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related deaths per year. We tested two treatment strategies that could be more sustainable in Africa than the standard of 2 weeks of amphotericin B plus flucytosine and more effective than the widely used fluconazole monotherapy. METHODS: We randomly assigned HIV-infected adults with cryptococcal meningitis to receive an oral regimen (fluconazole [1200 mg per day] plus flucytosine [100 mg per kilogram of body weight per day] for 2 weeks), 1 week of amphotericin B (1 mg per kilogram per day), or 2 weeks of amphotericin B (1 mg per kilogram per day)...
March 15, 2018: New England Journal of Medicine