Cryptococcal Meningitis among Hospitalized HIV Patients in India (June 2008–June 2010)

This study was terminated in 2016.

Cryptococcal meningitis secondary to HIV infection is one of the leading causes of mortality from infectious agents worldwide.
Recent estimates suggest close to a million infections annually and over six hundred thousand deaths every year. South and
Southeast Asia are second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in the number of deaths annually from cryptococcal infection. However, the burden of cryptococcal meningitis in India has not been well characterized, and more information is needed to understand the prevalence of this disease. Furthermore, the presence of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV infected individuals has been associated with an attributable risk of death equal to that of active tuberculosis. It is therefore of the utmost importance to acquire more information about the prevalence and risk factors for this disease in India.

The primary goal of this study is to describe the prevalence, annual incidence, seasonality, demographics and clinical
characteristics and of cryptococcal meningitis among HIV patients admitted to the hospital.