Histoplasmosis »
What is histoplasmosis?
Histoplasmosis is a disease, usually affecting the lungs, caused by the
Histoplasma capsulatum fungus. Although many people that are or have been infected
with H. capsulatum do not appear ill, some people in the acute phase of the
disease have a dry cough, fever, and chest pains and do feel ill. There are
several types of histoplasmosis (acute, chronic, and disseminated, all with
subtypes).
H. capsulatum was first described by Samuel Darling in 1906 within human tissue cells
(histiocytes). In 1932, Katharine Dodd and Edna Tompkins made the first diagnosis of
histoplasmosis in an infant. Since the 1930s, H. capsulatum has been found
worldwide, but the majority of cases are found in river valleys in temperate
regions of the world and in equatorial Africa (in Africa, H. capsulatum has a
variant thick-walled yeast form termed H. duboisii). Often an outbreak occurs in
a group of ...
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