Disseminated histoplasmosis in HIV positive patients in Espírito Santo state, Brazil: a clinical-laboratory study of 12 cases (1999-2001).

Twelve cases of histoplasmosis in HIV-infected patients were found in a retrospective analysis at the Hospital Universitário Cassiano Antônio de Moraes of the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (HUCAM), Vitória (ES), from June 1999 to May 2001. The frequency of histoplasmosis among HIV-positive patients was 2.1% in the infectious diseases division of the hospital during this period. Histoplasmosis compromised mainly males (11/12), 27 to 44 years old, and residents of the metropolitan urban area (10/12). Alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking were described in 10 of the 12 patients. For all patients, this was the first opportunistic infection. Two of the 12 patients died; 10 patients had disseminated disease, one patient had an intestinal presentation and one had disease restricted to the lungs. The most frequent clinical manifestations were weight loss, fever, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, coughing, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Six of the 12 patients had skin lesions. Time of symptoms preceding the diagnosis varied from two months to one year. CD4 counts were below 200 cells/mm(3) in 9 of 10 patients. Diagnosis was made by histology in two thirds of the patients. The typical adult patient with HIV infection and histoplasmosis in our series was male, had a CD4 count below 200 cells/mm(3), had fever, weight loss, cough, abdominal pain and hepatomegaly in the last two months or more, had a high probability of alcohol and tobacco addiction, was having his first opportunistic infection, and had no identifiable environmental exposure risk.