Acute disseminated histoplasmosis and endocarditis
Scapellato, P.G.; Desse, J.; Negroni, R.
Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo 40(1): 19-22
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-4665 PMID: 9713133 Document Number: 492996
Acute disseminated histoplasmosis is a frequent condition in HIV carriers. Thirty-five cases of endocarditis caused by Histoplasma capsulatum have been reported in international literature, and all these descriptions correspond to a context of subacute disseminated histoplasmosis. This paper presents the case of a HIV-positive patient with fever, dyspnea, weight loss, vomiting and polyadenopathies to whom histoplasmosis was diagnosed following blood-cultures and isolation of the agent responsible for cutaneous lesions, and in whom aortic-valve vegetations were found during an echocardiogram. The patient was treated with amphotericin B and had a good outcome; subsequent echocardiograms showed no vegetations. Literature on the subject is reviewed, with special emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of previously described cases.