ABSTRACT
Histoplasmosis is a common endemic mycosis in North, Central, and South America, but Korea is not known as an endemic area. We treated an immunocompetent Korean patient who had histoplasmosis. A 65-year-old Korean man presented with multiple pulmonary clumps of tiny nodules in the both lungs. He had been diagnosed 40 years earlier with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and a fungus ball had been diagnosed 4 years earlier. He denied any history of overseas travel. The patient visited our hospital with dyspnea, blood-tinged sputum, and weight loss, which had appeared 2 months earlier. The patient underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lung biopsy. The biopsy sample showed necrotizing granuloma and the presence of multiple small yeast-like fungi. Tissue culture confirmed Histoplasma capsulatum, and he was finally diagnosed with pulmonary histoplasmosis. Therapy was initiated with 200 mg itraconazole orally once per day. The symptoms disappeared 1 week after the start of treatment. After 4 months, low-dose chest computed tomography showed improvement in the ground glass opacity and size of the lung lesions. In conclusion, we report a case of an immunocompetent patient who developed histoplasmosis in Korea. When a patient shows unexplainable progressive infiltrative lung lesions, histoplasmosis should be considered as one of differential diagnoses although Korea is not an endemic area.
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Biopsy , Diagnosis, Differential , Dyspnea , Fungi , Glass , Granuloma , Histoplasma , Histoplasmosis , Itraconazole , Korea , Lung , South America , Sputum , Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted , Thorax , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary , Weight LossABSTRACT
Se describe un brote de histoplasmosis que afectó a 6 cadetes de la Fuerza Aérea Argentina, sin antecedentes patológicos previos. Todos consultaron por problemas respiratorios después de haber limpiado un hangar. En ese recinto se encontraron abundantes deyecciones de animales, presuntamente de palomas y murciélagos. Los pacientes sufrieron fiebre, mialgias, taquipnea y tos no productiva. Las radiografías y tomografías de tórax mostraron imágenes pulmonares micronodulares, engrosamiento de los tabiques interalveolares y adenopatías hiliares. Todos tuvieron una evolución favorable y no requirieron tratamiento antifúngico. Las pruebas de inmunodifusión y contrainmunoelectroforesis con antígenos de Histoplasma capsulatum fueron positivas, al igual que las intradermorreacciones con histoplasmina. Se recogieron 5 muestras de tierra del lugar, las que fueron inoculadas por vía intraperitoneal a 20 hámsteres. De los cultivos de hígado y bazo de dichos animales se consiguió aislar la fase micelial de H. capsulatum. La cepa aislada se comparó con las obtenidas de 12 pacientes argentinos utilizando perfiles genéticos y se observó un clado único con más de 96% de similitud, lo que confirma la homogeneidad de las cepas argentinas. Si bien la histoplasmosis es endémica en la Pampa húmeda, este es el primer brote totalmente documentado al sur del paralelo 34°.
An histoplasmosis outbreak affecting 6 previously healthy Air Force cadets is herein presented. The patients suffered from fever and respiratory symptoms after having cleaned an abandoned hangar soiled with pigeons and bat droppings. They all presented fever, myalgia, tachypnea, and nonproductive cough. Chest X-ray and CT scan studies showed disseminated reticulonodular images affecting both lungs. Hiliar adenomegalies were also observed. All patients achieved a favourable outcome without antifungal treatment. Both serologic tests searching for specificic antibodies (immunodiffusion and counterimmunoelectrophoresis) and histoplasmin skin tests were positive in all cases. Five soil samples mixed with pigeons and bat droppings were collected from the hangar. Suspensions of these samples were inoculated into 20 hamsters by intraperitoneal injection; mycelial phase of H. capsulatum was isolated from liver and spleen cultures. The genetic profile of this strain was compared with 12 isolates obtained from Argentinean patients, and a great degree of homogeneity was observed (> 96% similarity). Although histoplasmosis is endemic in the wet Pampas, this is the first epidemic outbreak reported south of the 34th parallel.