Acute disseminated histoplasmosis and endocarditis
Author(s): SCAPELLATO Pablo G., DESSE Javier, NEGRONI RicardoKeywords: Histoplasmosis in AIDS, Endocarditis, Mycotic endocarditis
Journal: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
Year: 1998
Full text: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0036-46651998000100005
Publisher: Instituto de Medicina Tropical
Abstract: 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.