Cutaneous Findings as a Harbinger of Disseminated Fungal Infection.

is a dimorphic fungus that causes pulmonary, disseminated, or, rarely, primary cutaneous disease. Primary cutaneous histoplasmosis presents with non-specific skin lesions, which can lead to poor patient outcomes due to diagnostic challenges and delays in diagnosis. A 62-year-old male on immunosuppressive medications for lupus nephritis presented to the emergency department with 24 hours of altered mental status.

Climate Change and Medical Mycology.

This review explores how climate change influences fungal disease dynamics, focusing on emergence of new fungal pathogens, increased antifungal resistance, expanding geographic ranges of fungal pathogens, and heightened host susceptibility. Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns enhance fungal growth and resistance mechanisms, complicating treatment efforts. Climate-driven geographic shifts are expanding the range of diseases like Valley fever, histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis.

Histoplasmosis.

This review provides an update of histoplasmosis, covering the changing epidemiology, pathogenesis, disease manifestations, diagnostic strategies, and management considerations for immunocompetent and immunocompromised populations.

Evaluation of a commercial histoplasma antigen detection enzyme immunoassays for the follow-up of histoplasmosis treatment in people living with HIV from Argentina.

Histoplasmosis poses a significant risk to HIV patients, particularly in regions with limited access to antiretroviral therapy. Antigen detection assays are crucial in these settings for timely diagnosis and treatment, which can reduce mortality. While commercial antigen detection kits have performed well in diagnosing histoplasmosis, their effectiveness in monitoring treatment remains unclear.

Challenging granulomatous differential diagnosis of CNS lesions in a 75-year-old patient with indolent lymphoma.

We report here on a patient with concomitant indolent lymphoma who showed a rapid progressive deterioration of his general condition and emerging neurological symptoms. The combination of severe B symptoms with hypermetabolic involvement of the adrenal glands and multiple central nervous system (CNS) lesions initially suggested a malignant disease. However, when the patient presented to us with biopsy results from one of the CNS lesions, the biopsy revealed granulomatous inflammation but no evidence of malignancy.

Presentation and Outcomes of Histoplasmosis in Transplant Recipients: A Retrospective Single-Centre Cohort Study.

Background: Histoplasmosis is an important infection among transplant recipients. Few studies have described its epidemiology and outcomes in the modern era.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using medical records from a single center in the United States.

Disseminated histoplasmosis with oral involvement and co-infection with Pneumocystis in a patient with HIV: A case report.

Oral manifestations of disseminated histoplasmosis are rare but can present in immunocompromised individuals. We report a case of disseminated Histoplasmosis presenting with presumed oral involvement and pneumonia in a seropositive HIV individual. A 32-year-old male with HIV presented to the emergency department for a two-week history of abdominal pain and a tongue ulcer in the setting of significant weight loss, blood-tinged sputum, and non-adherence with antiretroviral therapy for three years.

Histoplasmosis Associated With Bat Guano Exposure in Cannabis Growers: 2 Cases.

is a pathogenic dimorphic fungus with evolving epidemiology. Initially described as endemic to the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, the infection now regularly occurs in central and eastern United States, with cases reported across the entire country. Transmission happens via inhalation of conidia during activities that disturb fungal hyphae.

Deep Fungal Infections of Skin and Role of Histopathology in Diagnosis.

Introduction: Deep mycoses acquired by penetrating trauma to the skin can have varied and sometimes atypical morphological presentations resulting in diagnostic dilemmas and delay in treatment onset. Histopathology can be a useful tool in not only diagnosing but also differentiating various deep mycoses.

Aims And Objectives: To observe various morphological presentations and histopathological features of deep fungal infections.

The "pseudo-pulmonary AVM sign": an aid to the diagnosis of histoplasmosis and differentiation from pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.

The diagnostic algorithm for histoplasmosis highlights the importance of imaging and emphasizes the role of the radiologist in the diagnostic workup. Here we describe a case series of patients with a novel sign of lung involvement in histoplasmosis which we have coined the Pseudo-Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation (PAVM) sign, the usage of which would help in the imaging diagnosis of histoplasmosis aid by distinguishing it from PAVMs. PAVMs carry risk for serious complications such as systemic emboli and may require treatment; whereas, histoplasmomas do not.

Fungal biomarkers in HIV-associated disseminated histoplasmosis: a multicenter diagnostic accuracy study on the Guiana shield.

Background: Diagnosis of HIV-associated histoplasmosis remains challenging. Our objective was to compare the performances of (1→3)-β-D-Glucan (BDG) and Aspergillus galactomannan (GM) antigen for the diagnosis of HIV-associated histoplasmosis.

Methods: We performed a diagnostic accuracy study using frozen primary serum specimens issued from consecutive hospitalized people living with HIV (PLWH) and blindly tested for BDG and GM using Fungitell® and PlateliaTM Aspergillus, respectively.

An unusual case of a dry cough.

https://bit.ly/4dXUOX4.

Side effects associated with itraconazole therapy.

Background: Itraconazole is the treatment of choice for many fungal infections, including histoplasmosis. While the tolerability of itraconazole has been described in short-term trial settings, there are few studies on side effects during long-term therapy. Fluconazole, which is usually thought to be less toxic, is associated with 52% toxicity in long-term treatment.

Dynamics of Histoplasma fungal load in people living with HIV with disseminated histoplasmosis under treatment with liposomal amphotericin B.

Objectives: Disseminated histoplasmosis (DH) is a lethal fungal disease in patients living with HIV in endemic regions of the world. Diagnosis relies mainly on microscopy, culture and antigen detection. Our goal was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic role of our reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RTqPCR) in blood specimens allowing to quantify the whole nucleic acids (WNA) load.

Experiences and perspectives on rapid-test diagnosis of tuberculosis, histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis in people with advanced HIV/AIDS disease in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The rapid diagnosis of opportunistic infections (OIs) is critical for improving the health outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). This study aimed to describe the feasibility of implementing a package for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, and cryptococcosis in patients with advanced HIV/AIDS disease in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The research involved two focus groups with health professionals, four in-depth interviews with healthcare managers, and twelve interviews with PLWHA.

Disseminated Histoplasmosis in an Immunocompetent Patient from Southern Arizona.

In this review, we present a case report of an immunocompetent 58-year-old male who presented with disseminated histoplasmosis (DH) outside of the known endemic regions. Due to his atypical clinical presentation that did not fit the classical clinical picture of DH, the diagnosis was delayed. In addition, we researched DH in the immunocompetent hosts as these cases are not common and leave the patient population vulnerable to delayed diagnosis.