March 23, 2018
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Cryptococcal meningitis: validation of new therapeutic regimens
The Advancing Cryptococcal Meningitis Treatment for Africa (ACTA) trial funded by the Medical Research Council (UK) and ANRS (France) has highlighted the benefits of new therapeutic regimens in the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, a frequent and severe opportunistic disease in patients living with HIV. In light of these findings, reported in the 15 March 2018 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the WHO has changed its guidelines regarding treatment of this fungal infection.
The results of the ACTA trial were presented at the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science held in Paris from 23 to 26 July 2017. Professor Thomas Harrison and his colleagues at St George's University of London, the Institut Pasteur in Paris, Paris Descartes University (Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades), the ANRS site in Cameroon, and the MRC sites in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia show in this trial that new therapeutic regimens are of benefit in HIV-infected patients with cryptococcal meningitis.