Thirty-one consecutive AIDS patients with cryptococcal disease were enrolled in a study of
the efficacy and safety of short-course primary treatment with a relatively high dose of
amphotericin B (1 mg/[kg· d] for 14 days); 26 patients also received flucytosine (100–150
mg/[kg· d], given either intravenously or orally). Twenty-five patients had cryptococcal
meningitis confirmed by culture, three had presumed cryptococcal meningitis, and three had
disseminated extrameningeal cryptococcosis. After successful primary treatment, all patients …

In response to a paper on the reliability of high doses of amphotericin B over a short time
period in the treatment of Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis in AIDS patients [De Lalla,
F.(et al.) Clinical Infectious Diseases (1995) 20, 263-266], the details of the types of
regimens used in the study are queried and it is suggested that it is difficult to draw definite
conclusions. A reply by De Lalla et al. follows.