Cryptococcal meningitis (infection of the brain) is believed to result from dissemination of the fungus from either an observed or unappreciated pulmonary infection.
Cryptococcosis is a rare fungal infection caused by inhaling the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Cryptococcus is present around the world, but infection was relatively rare until the AIDS epidemic began. Cryptococcosis is the cause of the most common life-threatening meningitis in AIDS. In the United States, 6-10% of all patients with AIDS get cryptococcosis. Cryptococcus gattii causes infections in immunocompetent people (those having a functioning immune system).
With all the attention on early detection of breast cancer and research to defeat this disease, there are common sense things we can do to decrease our chances becoming a victim.
We’ve all been watching the annual parade of ‘pink’ - all in the name of raising money to fight breast cancer! The objectives are admirable - more money for research for early detection and maybe to defeat the causes of breast cancer. AND it’s important.
Why do people with breast cancer need chemotherapy? The reason is that despite the best efforts of the healthcare team to remove all traces of the tumor, breast cancer can still recur. Even early stage breast cancer can return months to years after the original diagnosis and treatment.
It can come back as a local recurrence (in the treated breast) or as a distant recurrence, also known as metastatic disease, elsewhere in the body, such as the bones, lungs, liver, or other organs. Due to this concern, many oncologists prefer to err on the side of over treating their patients with chemotherapy, lest the person be under treated and sustain a recurrence.
