Acute disseminated cryptococcosis in lupus nephritis: report of a fatal case

We report a clinical case of systemic lupus erythematosus with fatal infection from Cryptococcus neoformans. The patient had a rapidly progressive renal failure due to lupus nephritis. She was severely immunodepressed especially by the disease, and secondarily by immunosuppressive therapy. She had more probabilities to be exposed to fungal infections because she lived in a rural area. This report enhances an interesting discussion about the utility of employing antifungal drugs in immunodepressed patients submitted to empirical antibiotic treatment because of fever of unknown aetiology.