What are the treatment for histoplasmosis?

Itraconazole (Sporanox, Onmel), fluconazole (Diflucan), and amphotericin B (Ambisome, Amphotec; drug of choice for severe disease) are antifungal drugs that treat histoplasmosis. A person may need to continue treatment for a period of several months.

What is histoplasmosis meningitis?

Histoplasmosis, a systemic mycosis caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, primarily affects immune-suppressed patients and commonly involves the lung and rarely the central nervous system (CNS). Herein, we report a case of isolated CNS histoplasmosis presenting with pontine stroke and meningitis.

What is the best medicine for histoplasmosis?

Amphotericin B (Fungizone) Amphotericin B is the drug of choice for overwhelming acute pulmonary histoplasmosis, chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis, all forms of progressive disseminated histoplasmosis, meningitis, and endovascular histoplasmosis.

What happens if histoplasmosis affects the brain?

CNS histoplasmosis patients have been reported to present with fever, confusion, headaches, lethargy, weakness, hydrocephalus, and focal neurological deficits reminiscent of a cerebral vascular [11,58].

What is the gold standard for treatment of histoplasmosis?

Itraconazole is an effective treatment in mild or moderate cases of disseminated histoplasmosis, as well as in acute and chronic pulmonary disease. Although itraconazole is not as rapid-acting as amphotericin, it has the advantage of being well tolerated even in long-term use.

Should histoplasmosis be treated?

Treatment usually isn’t necessary if you have a mild case of histoplasmosis. But if your symptoms are severe or if you have the chronic or disseminated form of the disease, you’ll likely need treatment with one or more antifungal drugs.

Can histoplasmosis cause meningitis?

These studies have demonstrated that the most common clinical features of CNS histoplasmosis consist of chronic meningitis, focal brain, or spinal cord lesions, stroke syndromes, encephalitis, and hydrocephalus. Over one third of cases reported, have occurred in immunocompetent individuals.

Can histoplasmosis cause brain lesions?

Deep brain histoplasmosis infections usually appear as ring-enhancing lesions on CT scan or MRI. These lesions have a broad differential diagnosis, including brain abscesses, toxoplasmosis, and other infectious, inflammatory and neoplastic etiologies that vary in likelihood with the immune status of the patient.

How serious is histoplasmosis?

Severe histoplasmosis 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.

What is histoplasmosis in the brain?

Histoplasmosis brain abscess is commonly seen in immunocompromised individuals 2. In addition, Histoplasma capsulatum is a neurotropic dimorphic fungus that causes self-limiting systemic mycosis in endemic regions while extra pulmonary manifestations are uncommon and typically asymptomatic 4.