BACKGROUND: Infection with Histoplasma capsulatum (H. capsulatum) can lead to disseminated disease involving the gastrointestinal tract presenting as diffuse abdominal pain and diarrhea which may mimic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
METHODS: We report a case of 12-year-old boy with presumptive diagnosis of Crohn disease (CD) that presented with several months of abdominal pain, weight loss and bloody diarrhea. Colonoscopy showed patchy moderate inflammation characterized by erythema and numerous pseudopolyps involving the terminal ileum, cecum, and ascending colon. Histologic sections from the colon biopsy revealed diffuse cellular infiltrate within the lamina propria with scattered histiocytic aggregates, and occasional non-necrotizing granulomas. Grocott-Gomori\'s Methenamine Silver staining confirmed the presence of numerous yeast forms suggestive of Histoplasma spp., further confirmed with positive urine Histoplasma antigen (6.58 ng/mL, range 0.2-20 ng/mL) and serum immunoglobulin G antibodies to Histoplasma (35.9 EU, range 10.0-80.0 EU). Intravenous amphotericin was administered then transitioned to oral itraconazole. Follow-up computed tomography imaging showed a left lower lung nodule and mesenteric lymphadenopathy consistent with disseminated histoplasmosis infection.
CONCLUSIONS: Gastrointestinal involvement with H. capsulatum with no accompanying respiratory symptoms is exceedingly rare and recognition is often delayed due to the overlapping clinical manifestations of IBD. This case illustrates the importance of excluding infectious etiologies in patients with \"biopsy-proven\" CD prior to initiating immunosuppressive therapies. Communication between clinicians and pathologists is crucial as blood cultures and antigen testing are key studies that should be performed in all suspected cases of histoplasmosis to avoid misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.

UNASSIGNED: Histoplasmosis is a deep fungal infection caused by Histoplasma capsulatum and can be classified as pulmonary, disseminated or central. Disseminated histoplasmosis is the most dangerous of all clinical types and is characterized by rapid onset, rapid progression, high mortality, and difficulty in diagnosis and treatment.
UNASSIGNED: This report describes a 31-year-old female who presented with fever, with a maximum temperature of 39.8 °C. There were no concomitant symptoms, such as cough, sputum, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, before the onset of fever, and the illness lasted for more than 20 days. On examination, the liver and spleen were enlarged, and laboratory tests showed a significant decrease in CD4 cell count, suggesting immune deficiency. Broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment was ineffective, and specific infectious diseases and haematological neoplasms were considered likely. She was finally diagnosed with disseminated histoplasmosis after undergoing bone marrow aspiration and metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and was treated with amphotericin B, fluorouracil and itraconazole, with good results.
UNASSIGNED: This case demonstrates that disseminated histoplasmosis infection can present with unexplained fever and that mNGS can be an important complement to bone marrow aspiration for the diagnosis of this disease.

OBJECTIVE: Disseminated histoplasmosis is a major killer of HIV-infected persons in Latin America. Antigen detection, fungal culture and Polymerase Chain Reaction are often not available, but cytology and histology are present in most hospitals and may offer a diagnostic alternative. In this study, we review 34 years of clinical experience to describe the roles of cytology and histology in diagnosing disseminated histoplasmosis.
METHODS: Retrospective multicentric study of 349 patients between 1 January 1981 and 1 October 2014 with confirmed disseminated histoplasmosis.
RESULTS: Around 32/214 (14.9%) of samples were screened using cytopathology, as were 10/101 (9.9%) bronchoalveolar lavage samples and 5/61 (8.2%) of spinal fluid samples. The samples most commonly sent to pathology were liver biopsies, lower digestive tract and lymphnode biopsies; the greatest proportion of positive results were found in lower digestive tract (43/59 (72.9%) positives), lymph node (39/63 (66.1%)), and liver (38/75 (50.7%)) samples. Overall, 97.2% of bone marrow and 97% of bronchoalveolar lavage samples were directly examined by a mycologist. Positive direct examination was independently associated with death (aHR = 1.5 (95%CI = 1-2.2)).
CONCLUSIONS: Opportunities for a rapid diagnosis were regularly missed, notably for bone marrow samples, which could have been examined using staining methods complementary to those of the mycologist.

Histoplasmosis is the fungal infection caused by Histoplasma capsulatum fungus. It is commonly found in a few endemic areas in the United States, where there is a large number of birds or bats and can spread through their droppings. Disseminated histoplasmosis is a severe manifestation of the fungal infection which is commonly seen in individuals with underlying immunosuppression. Our case is an unusual case of disseminated histoplasmosis in a 60-year-old, immunocompetent male patient with a history of significant alcohol abuse, which led to end stage liver failure. While the patient showed some signs of improvement initially upon beginning the treatment, he ultimately continued to deteriorate despite treatment due to an overwhelming histoplasmosis infection. This case demonstrates the importance of keeping a high index of suspicion even amongst immunocompetent patients with no obvious exposure to risk factors. It also shows that timely diagnosis with a high index of suspicion is required with an integrated treatment approach.

Acute pancreatitis (AP), an inflammatory disease of the pancreas, is clinically classified into mild AP, moderately severe, and severe based on local complications and presence of organ failure. Histoplasmosis, caused by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, typically presents with pulmonary disease. Extrapulmonary disease/disseminated histoplasmosis can affect the gastrointestinal tract, with only a few reported cases of pancreatitis secondary to the above. We describe a rare case of a young woman who presented with necrotizing pancreatitis secondary to histoplasmosis. The etiology of pancreatitis remained unclear throughout her hospital stay despite extensive workup performed. Diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis was based on autopsy findings.

Progressive disseminated histoplasmosis (PDH) is an AIDS-defining illness with a high lethality rate if not promptly treated. The wide range of its possible clinical manifestations represents the main barrier to diagnosis in non-endemic countries. Here we present a case of PDH with haemophagocytic syndrome in a newly diagnosed HIV patient and a comprehensive review of disseminated histoplasmosis focused on epidemiology, clinical features, diagnostic tools and treatment options in HIV-infected patients.

The diagnosis of progressive disseminated histoplasmosis is often a challenge to clinicians, especially due to the low sensitivity and long turnaround time of the classic diagnostic methods. In recent years, studies involving a variety of non-culture-based diagnostic tests have been published in the literature. We performed a systematic review by selecting studies evaluating non-culture-based diagnostic methods for progressive disseminated histoplasmosis. We searched for articles evaluating detection of antibody, antigens, as well as DNA-based diagnostic methods. A comprehensive PUBMED, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library search was performed between the years 1956 and 2016. Case reports, review articles, non-human models and series involving less than 10 patients were excluded. We found 278 articles and after initial review 18 articles were included: (12) involved antigen detection methods, (4) molecular methods, and (2) antibody detection methods. Here we demonstrate that the pursuit of new technologies is ultimately required for the early and accurate diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis. In particular, urinary antigen detection was the most accurate tool when compared with other diagnostic techniques.

BACKGROUND: Histoplasma capsulatum is rarely found in nose and sinuses in immunocompetent and even in immunosupressed patients. A literature review revealed rare cases of H. capsulatum sinusitis and the case we describe in this paper is the first case of H. capsulatum sinusitis in Morocco. The purpose of our work is to present a rare case of H. capsulatum sinusitis and a literature review.
METHODS: A male patient, at his 39 presented to the emergency with suffered from nasal congestion and yellow postnasal rhinorrhea, occasional headaches and epistaxis for over than two months. He had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection for 6 years with failing treatment adherence and he had an opportunistic infection and unconfirmed pulmonary tuberculosis treated 3 years ago. Computerized tomography from paranasal sinus revealed complete opacification of the ethmoid-maxillary sinuses in the right fossa, consistent with acute sinusitis. The cultures of the sinus aspirate, skin biopsy, were positive for H. capsulatum and the histology of the nasal mucosa and skin biopsy specimen of the rash evoking a sinusitis and cutaneous histoplasmosis. The patient was started a treatment with intravenous amphotericin B at a rate of 1 mg/kg/day with clear clinical and biological improvement.
CONCLUSIONS: Cultures and histopathologic study confirm histoplasmosis. Itraconazole and amphotericin B are the first line drugs.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with progressive disseminated histoplasmosis and those with AIDS should be treated with amphotericin B, and the ENT should suspect of opportunistic agents in immunosupressed patients with sinusitis.

Background.  Histoplasmosis-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a relatively rare disorder for which data are limited regarding optimal treatment and clinical outcomes in adults. We describe the clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of patients with histoplasmosis-associated HLH at our institution. Methods.  We performed a retrospective chart review of all inpatients at Parkland Hospital diagnosed with HLH associated with Histoplasma capsulatum from 2003 to 2013. Results.  Eleven cases of histoplasmosis-associated HLH over this time period were identified. Nine of eleven cases were males (82%). Nine of these patients had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), 1 was a renal transplant patient on immunosuppressants, and the other had no documented immunocompromise. The most common HLH criteria were splenomegaly (n = 10), fever (n = 10), and ferritin >500 ng/dL (n = 9). Urine Histoplasma antigen was positive in every patient tested (n = 9 of 9), and most antibodies for Histoplasma were positive if checked (n = 4 of 5). A majority of patients received liposomal amphotericin B (n = 9) with an average treatment duration of 11 days, and 5 patients also received prednisone, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), or both. Overall, 5 patients died within 30 days (45.5%), and 7 patients died within 90 days (63.6%). Of the 5 patients that received immunosuppression, 4 died (80%), whereas in the group not given additional immunosuppression (n = 5), 2 died (40%). Conclusions.  Histoplasmosis-associated HLH among adults is a lethal disease of highly immunocompromised patients, especially patients with HIV/AIDS. Clinical features such as splenomegaly, elevated ferritin, and cytopenias should prompt evaluation for HLH in this population. Further data are needed to define the role of immunosuppression, IVIG, and highly active antiretroviral therapy in treating this condition.

Central nervous system (CNS) histoplasmosis is rare and difficult to diagnose because it is often overlooked or mistaken for other pathologies due to its nonspecific symptoms. A 32-year-old Hispanic man with advanced acquired immunodeficiency virus presented with altered mental status and reported confusion for the past 3 months. He had a Glasgow Coma Scale of 12, repetitive nonfluent speech, and a disconjugate gaze with a right gaze preference. Lung computed tomography (CT) findings indicated a pulmonary histoplasmosis infection. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed a ring-enhancing lesion in the left caudate nucleus. A CT-guided left retroperitoneal node biopsy was performed and indicated a benign inflammatory process with organisms compatible with fungal yeast. Treatment with amphotericin B followed by itraconazole was initiated in spite of negative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures and proved effective in mitigating associated CNS lesions and resolving neurologic deficits. The patient was discharged 3 weeks later in stable condition. Six weeks later, his left basal ganglia mass decreased. Early recognition of symptoms and proper steps is key in improving outcomes of CNS histoplasmosis. Aggressive medical management is possible in the treatment of intracranial deep mass lesions, and disseminated histoplasmosis with CNS involvement can be appropriately diagnosed and treated, despite negative CSF and serology studies.