Histoplasmosis

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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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• Histoplasmosis Facts
• Histoplasmosis Cause
• Histoplasmosis Risk Factors
• Histoplasmosis Symptoms and Signs
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Histoplasmosis Diagnosis
• Histoplasmosis Treatment
• Histoplasmosis Follow-up
• Histoplasmosis Complications
• Histoplasmosis Prognosis
• Histoplasmosis Prevention
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Author and Editor

• Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by a dimorphic fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum.
• Risk factors for histoplasmosis include immunocompromised people and association with airborne particles containing the fungi (caves containing bats, bird feces, construction sites).
• Symptoms of histoplasmosis range from none to flu-like symptoms (fever, dry cough, chest discomfort); severe infections may cause vision problems, mouth ulcers, seizures, encephalopathy, and death.
• Seek medical care if symptoms of the flu or pneumonia persist, especially in people with immunocompromised systems.
• Definitive diagnosis is made by culturing and identifying Histoplasma capsulatum from biopsy, blood, or sputum samples.
• The majority of patients infected by Histoplasma capsulatum require no treatment; the small number of patients who develop more severe infection may require long-term antifungal treatments (months to a year) while a few may need lifelong antifungal treatment.
• Follow-up is important because of the potential need for long-term antifungal treatments to monitor drug levels and to determine effective treatment or reoccurrence of infection.
• The large majority of patients who develop histoplasmosis have no complication; ocular problems, mouth ulcers, encephalopathy, seizures, and, rarely, death may occur those few patients that develop severe disease.
• The large majority of people who develop histoplasmosis have good outcomes; patients who are immunocompromised have outcomes that range from good to poor, depending on their response to treatment and disease severity.
• No vaccine is currently available to prevent histoplasmosis; avoidance of bat and bird habitats and avoiding construction sites that may aerosolize the fungi is recommended.

Picture of spores of Histoplasma capsulatum fungi; SOURCE: CDC