[Disseminated histoplasmosis and HIV infection: Case series in a Peruvian hospital]. / Histoplasmosis diseminada e infección por VIH: serie de casos en un hospital peruano.

BACKGROUND: Histoplasmosis is an endemic fungal infection in Peru and HIV coinfection leads to difficult diagnoses and high associated mortality. AIM: To describe clinical, epidemiological and clinical outcomes in patients with HIV infection with diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis (DH) at Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital, Lima, Peru. METHODS: Retrospective, descriptive study; information was obtained from the computer registry of patients with HIV infection diagnosed with DH, during the period 1996-2014. Clinical, epidemiological, treatment and outcome characteristics were described. RESULTS: We found 27 patients, 25 (92.6%) were male, with a mean age of 36.7 years (± 9.4 years) and 22 (81.5%) had an epidemiological history contact. Sixteen patients (59.3%) had DH as an AIDS defining disease. The median CD4 count was 65 cells/mm3 (IQR 15-92). Only 7 (25.9%) received combination antiretroviral therapy at diagnosis. The most common clinical presentation was fever (66.7%), chronic diarrhea (40.7%) and lymphadenopathy (33.3%). The diagnosis was made mainly by histopathology. Six (22.2%) patiens died in the acute stage of the disease. Seven (25.9%) were initially treated empirically as tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: We describe the clinical characteristics of a group of patients who had DH as HIV coinfection and this is still a quasi endemic reality in patients suffering from this pathology.