It currently kills on the order of three-quarters of a million people a year, primarily again in resource-limited regions with high rates of HIV/AIDS.
Two costly drugs are commonly used to treat the fungal infection. But they are not commonly available in developing countries. And they are difficult to give to patients, because they must be injected into a persons blood. Experts say that even under the best conditions, 10 to 20 percent of those who receive this treatment will die. Another drug is often used in poor countries to fight Cryptococcosis. But the drug only slows the growth of the infection.
Some researchers are investigating whether drugs already approved for one condition might be useful against another. Dr. Krysan and other researchers examined about 2,000 drugs and combinations of drugs for ones that could kill Cryptococcus.
They found one tamoxifen, a drug that has been used for years to treat women with breast cancer. Dr. Krysan says tamoxifen is not pricey and seems to help patients in a number of ways.
Can be given orally to patients, which is what we needed. And Cryptococcus causes a brain infection essentially. And so we needed that drug to get to the brain. And tamoxifen actually crosses into the central nervous system very effectively and even accumulates to levels above what we see in the blood.
Dr. Krysan published a report on his findings in the journal mBio. He says tamoxifen is most effective against the fungal infection when it is combined with the drug that is already used to treat Cryptococcosis in poor countries.
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