Paracoccidioidomycosis in a boy infected with HIV

Paracoccidioidomycosis in Immunocompromised Patients: A Literature Review

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is an endemic mycosis found in Latin America that causes systemic disease mostly in immunocompetent hosts. A small percentage of PCM occurs in immunocompromised patients where low clinical suspicion of the infection, late diagnosis, and uncertainties about its management are factors that negatively impact their outcomes. We conducted a literature review searching reports on PCM associated to HIV, cancer, maligned hemopathies, solid organ transplantation, and immunotherapies, in order to check for peculiarities in terms of natural history and challenges in the clinical management of PCM in this population. HIV patients with PCM usually had low T CD4⁺ cell counts, pulmonary and lymph nodes involvement, and a poorer prognosis (≈50% mortality). Most of the patients with PCM and cancer had carcinoma of the respiratory tract. Among maligned hemopathies, PCM was more often related to lymphoma. In general, PCM prognosis in patients with malignant diseases was related to the cancer stage. PCM in transplant recipients was mostly associated with the late phase of kidney transplantation, with a high mortality rate (44%). Despite being uncommon, reactivation of latent PCM may take place in the setting of immunocompromised patients exhibiting clinical particularities and it carries higher mortality rates than normal hosts.

Paracoccidioidomycosis: an unusual presentation in a young girl disclosing an unnoted HIV-infection

The association of paracoccidioidomycosis with AIDS is apparently less frequent than expected. The authors present an unusual case of paracoccidioidomycosis in a 13-year-old female student which was later found to be the first opportunistic infection in the course of the patient's HIV-infection. The clinical presentation followed an accidental incised wound on the palmar region initially described as a 'sporotrichotic-chancre'. After good response under sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprin, the patient relapsed and presented an associated oral candidiasis. HIV-infection was documented and additional investigation showed CD4(+) T-cells=22/mm(3), CD8(+)=280 cell/mm(3) and viral load=4,043 log. This case report presents an uncommon dermatological-clinical picture in the youngest patient in which such association has been reported to date.

Paracoccidioidomycosis: a model for evaluation of the effects of human immunodeficiency virus infection on the natural history of endemic tropical diseases

The interaction of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with endemic tropical diseases has become a major concern, but its mechanisms are still poorly understood. Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a South America endemic deep mycosis, may provide an interesting model to investigate this interaction, as clinical-epidemiological features of most HIV-PCM-coinfected patients are difficult to classify into the standard acute and chronic forms of PCM. Such patients have presented clinical features indicative of an uncontrolled infection with lymphohematogenous dissemination, similar to the more severe, acute form. However, this infection probably resulted from reactivated latent foci that, in nonimmunocompromised hosts, leads to the less severe chronic form, characterized by mucosal lesions. We propose that a new outcome of the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis-host interaction is induced by concomitant HIV infection. This outcome probably reflects an impaired anti-P. brasiliensis immune response during coinfection that is similar to that seen in the acute form, although the patients have a chronic P. brasiliensis infection.

Paracoccidioidomycosis and AIDS: report of the first two Colombian cases

The records of the first two Colombian patients with AIDS and paracoccidioidomycosis are presented. Both patients were males and had no known risk factors for HIV although in the past they had worked in the field where they could have been infected with the fungus. They exhibited the juvenile type of disease with multiple organ system involvement and symptoms of short duration. They were deeply immunodepressed as indicated by less than 100 CD4 T lymphocytes per mL; however, serologic tests revealed circulating anti-Paracoccidioides brasiliensis antibodies and in one patient the first diagnostic clue came from such tests. In one case, the mycosis preceded the AIDS diagnosis while in the other, both pathologies were discovered simultaneously. Antimycotic therapy with itraconazole was administered for over 10 months, with an initial dose of 200 mg/day followed by 100 mg/day; marked improvement of the mycotic signs and symptoms was soon noticed an there have been no signs of relapse. The patients improvement was also due to the combined retroviral treatment that was instituted. In spite of the rarity of the AIDS-paracoccidioidomycosis association, physicians practicing in endemic areas should consider the presence of the mycosis in immunosuppressed patients, since a prompt diagnosis and institution of combined antimycotic-anti-retroviral treatments would result in patient improvement and survival. It appears possible that the longer survival time of today's AIDS patients would give the quiescent fungus the opportunity to revive, multiply and cause overt disease.