How do you know if you have histoplasmosis?
In most cases, histoplasmosis causes mild flu-like symptoms that appear between 3 and 17 days after exposure to the fungus. These symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, cough and chest discomfort. In these milder forms, most symptoms go away on their own in a few weeks.
Is there a cure for histoplasmosis?
For some people, the symptoms of histoplasmosis will go away without treatment. However, prescription antifungal medication is needed to treat severe histoplasmosis in the lungs, chronic histoplasmosis, and infections that have spread from the lungs to other parts of the body (disseminated histoplasmosis).
How does a person get histoplasmosis?
People can get histoplasmosis after breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air. Although most people who breathe in the spores don’t get sick, those who do may have a fever, cough, and fatigue.
How does someone get histoplasmosis?
What is the gold standard for treatment of histoplasmosis?
Treatment for moderate to severe disseminated histoplasmosis involves initial treatment with amphotericin B for one to two weeks, followed by maintenance therapy with the azoles, such as itraconazole, fluconazole or ketoconazole for at least a year. Itraconazole is the preferred azole drug.
How do you know if you have fungus in your lungs?
Fungal lung infection symptoms A feeling of breathlessness. Coughing up sputum or, in severe cases, blood. A general feeling of weakness. Sometimes the infection can cause achy joints.
Is histoplasmosis a fungal disease?
Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by a fungus (or mold) called Histoplasma. The fungus is common in the eastern and central United States. It grows in soil and material contaminated with bat or bird droppings. You get infected by breathing the fungal spores.
What is part of the body does histoplasmosis attack?
The most severe variety of histoplasmosis occurs primarily in infants and in people with compromised immune systems. Called disseminated histoplasmosis, it can affect nearly any part of your body, including your mouth, liver, central nervous system, skin and adrenal glands. If untreated, disseminated histoplasmosis is usually fatal.
How do you contract histoplasmosis?
Histoplasmosis is not contagious, but is contracted by inhalation of the spores from disturbed soil or guano. The inoculum is represented principally by microconidia. These are inhaled and reach the alveoli. In the alveoli, macrophages ingest these microconidia.
What is the prevalence of histoplasmosis?
The central river valleys in the midwestern and south central United States are endemic for histoplasmosis. Approximately 250,000 individuals are infected annually. Clinical manifestations of histoplasmosis occur in less than 5% of the population.