The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of
fungal meningitis among
AIDS cases and to assess the prognosis of
fungal meningitis among HIV positive & negative subjects. The study comprised of 15 & 10 cases of
fungal meningitis among HIV positive & negative subjects respectively during the study period 1992-2001.
India ink preparation and Gram's staining procedures were carried out on the centrifuged CSF deposits. The CSF deposits were also used for bacterial and fungal culture. In the present study the prevalence of
fungal meningitis was noted among 15 (3.1%) of 483
AIDS cases. Twelve of them had
cryptococcal meningitis while 3 were infected with Candida albicans. Four
AIDS cases presented
fungal meningitis as a primary
opportunistic infection and HIV status was confirmed in 4 of them after the diagnosis of
fungal meningitis. 13 of the 15 cases were in the age group 26-40 yrs while one was 55 yrs old and the other 16 month old child; these two cases had
blood transfusion transmitted and vertically transmitted mode of HIV transmission respectively. Further, only two of 15 cases were females and both acquired
HIV infection through
blood transfusion. Overall prognosis of
fungal meningitis was poor among HIV positives and 7 of the 15 cases died in hospital within 2-3 weeks after diagnosis of
cryptococcal meningitis. Among HIV negative subjects, ten cases of
fungal meningitis (3 with Candida albicans and 7 with Cryptococcous neoformans) were noted at our end and nine of them had immunocompromised status (3 cases of renal transplant on immunosuppressives, 3 cases neonates/infant and 2 diabetic subjects. The
fungal meningitis is one of the important causes of morbidity & mortality among immunocompromised among HIV positive subjects.