Cryptococcal meningitis in an immunocompetent young adult: A rare occurrence

Abstract

Meningitis, when caused by fungi such as Cryptococcus, is usually seen in immunocompromised hosts. However, immunocompetent patients are rarely susceptible to cryptococcal meningitis (CM). We report the case of a 22-year-old immunocompetent male who presented with fever, headache for which he received treatment initially as viral/bacterial meningitis; but as there was no response further diagnostic work-up confirmed the diagnosis of CM. We report this case in view of the rarity of cryptococcal infection in immunocompetent hosts and also to increase the awareness among physicians to consider fungal infections in one of the differentials early in the hospital course while managing patients with meningitis even if they are immunocompetent. This helps in early targeted therapy and thus reduces the morbidity and mortality associated with this deadly disease.

Keywords

• cryptococcal meningitis
• diagnosis
• immunocompetent