Histoplasmosis in the Muñiz Hospital of Buenos Aires

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 531 - 535
• Main Author: Bava, A J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Instituto de Medicina Tropical 01-12-1995
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - complications; Adult; AIDS Serodiagnosis - methods; AIDS/HIV; Argentina - epidemiology; Blotting, Western; CD4-CD8 Ratio; Chronic Disease; Female; Histoplasmosis - complications; Histoplasmosis - diagnosis; Histoplasmosis - epidemiology; Histoplasmosis - immunology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; TROPICAL MEDICINE; Argentina; Histoplasmosis; Histoplasmosis associated to AIDS; Epidemiology of histoplasmosis
• ISSN: 0036-4665; 1678-9946; 0036-4665
• DOI: 10.1590/s0036-46651995000600010

Some epidemiological and immunological characteristics and the methodology of diagnosis of 44 cases of histoplasmosis (HP); 36 (27 males and 9 women) associated with AIDS (HP+AIDS) and 8 (7 males and 1 female) with other predisposing factors (HP+non AIDS), diagnosed in the Muñiz Hospital (MH) during 1994, were retrospectively studied. The median age (MA) of HP+AIDS patients was 28 years; 25.5 (22-40) in the women and 28.5 (20-42) in the men and 50 (22-58) years in the HP+non AIDS patients. The more frequent risk factors for HIV infection were intravenous drug addiction (55%) and homo/bisexuality (19%). The MA of these groups were 28 (20-39) and 41 (26-42) years, respectively. Tobaccoism was a predisposing factor in 83% of HP+non AIDS patients. The muco-cutaneous lesions scraping and blood-cultures established the initial diagnosis in 53% and 36% of HP+AIDS patients, respectively and the muco-cutaneous lesions biopsies in 75% of HP+non AIDS cases. At time of diagnosis, all HP+AIDS patients had < 200 while HP+non AIDS patients had > 200 CD4 + lymphocytes/microliters. Seventy two per cent of HP+AIDS patients were born in Buenos Aires (Bs As) city and 62% of HP+non AIDS patients were born in provinces of Argentina other than Bs As. At moment of diagnosis, 87.5% of HP+AIDS and 62.5% of HP+non AIDS patients lived in Bs As city and Bs As outskirts.