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{{Histoplasmosis}}
{{Histoplasmosis}}


{{CMG}}; {{AE}}; {{VB}}
{{CMG}}; {{AE}} {{SSK}}; {{VB}}


==Historical Perspective==
==Historical Perspective==
===Initial Discovery===
*''Histoplasma capsulatum'' was first described by Samuel Taylor Darling, an American pathologist, during his work in the Ancon Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone and later as chief of the laboratories of the Isthmian Canal Commission.<ref name="pmid17738786">{{cite journal| author=Hegner RW| title=SAMUEL TAYLOR DARLING 1872-1925. | journal=Science | year= 1925 | volume= 62 | issue= 1593 | pages= 23-4 | pmid=17738786 | doi=10.1126/science.62.1593.23 | pmc= | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&tool=sumsearch.org/cite&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=17738786  }} </ref>
*Before Darling's discovery, the disease was unknown.
*He observed an organism in a in patient's autopsy material that resembled Leishmania that he, at the time, falsely identified as a protozoan.
*The patient died of a generalized disease associated with hepatosplenomegaly and anemia, a syndrome similar to the findings of Leishman and Donovan.
*Despite his very crude equipment by modern standards, Darling was able to identify these "plasmodium-like" organisms in histiocytes, hence coining the name ''Histoplasma''.
*The term "capsulatum" stemmed from Darling's false assumption that the organism has a capsule.<ref name="pmid13400245">{{cite journal| author=BAUM GL, SCHWARZ J| title=The history of histoplasmosis, 1906 to 1956. | journal=N Engl J Med | year= 1957 | volume= 256 | issue= 6 | pages= 253-8 | pmid=13400245 | doi=10.1056/NEJM195702072560605 | pmc= | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&tool=sumsearch.org/cite&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=13400245  }} </ref>


The fungus was first identified and described by an american pathologist named Samuel Taylor Darling. He had trained in Louis Pasteur's laboratory and was later appointed as the Head of the board of health laboratory in Panama. While working on a project on control malaria and yellow fever in Panama he made this discovery in 1905-1906. He found that, in a lung autopsy specimen in a carpenter, there were granulomas quite different from the ones found in tuberculosis, these were large endothelial cells infested by oval micro-organisms. In 1906, he examined 2 more autopsy specimens from a laborer and a Chinese immigrant and the findings were consistent with the previous biopsy. He thus postulated the existence of a new micro-organism, classified it as a protozoan, and named it Histoplasma capsulatum because he thought it to be an encapsulated organism. However both his assumptions were wrong. Nonetheless Histoplasmosis became "Darling's Disease". [http://www.antimicrobe.org/history/Discovery%20of%20Histoplasmosis-Darling.asp]
===Reclassification===
*In 1912, Henrique da Rocha-Lima, a Brazilian tropical disease specialist, reported findings from a comparison between Leishmania and Histoplasma and concluded that Histoplasma more closely resembled a yeast than a protozoan.
*Up until the early 1940s, histoplasmosis was considered a fatal tropical disease not prevalent in the United States.
*Dr. Charles E. Smith was the first person to suggest that the rise in pulmonary calcifications in patients with a negative tuberculin test could be due to Histoplama.<ref name="pmid13400245">{{cite journal| author=BAUM GL, SCHWARZ J| title=The history of histoplasmosis, 1906 to 1956. | journal=N Engl J Med | year= 1957 | volume= 256 | issue= 6 | pages= 253-8 | pmid=13400245 | doi=10.1056/NEJM195702072560605 | pmc= | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&tool=sumsearch.org/cite&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=13400245  }} </ref>
 
===Isolation and Culture===
*In 1928, Dr. Edna H. Tompkins identified the first case of histoplasmosis in a living patient's blood smear.
*In 1933, Dr. William A. DeMonbreun of Vanderbilt University became the first person to successfully culture ''H. capsulatum'' species from the same patient identified by Dr. Tompkins.
*Dr. DeMonbreun also fulfilled Koch's postulates after he injected the culture material into animals.
*He also suggested that the disease may not be as low in prevalence as initially hypothesized due to mild cases and carrier forms.
*In 1948, Dr. Chester W. Emmons isolated and cultured ''H.capsulatum'' from a soil sample for the first time.<ref name="pmid13400245">{{cite journal| author=BAUM GL, SCHWARZ J| title=The history of histoplasmosis, 1906 to 1956. | journal=N Engl J Med | year= 1957 | volume= 256 | issue= 6 | pages= 253-8 | pmid=13400245 | doi=10.1056/NEJM195702072560605 | pmc= | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&tool=sumsearch.org/cite&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=13400245  }} </ref>
   
   
===Histoplasmosis in Popular Culture===
==Histoplasmosis in Popular Culture==
* Johnny Cash included a reference to the disease, even correctly noting its source in bird droppings, in the song "Beans for Breakfast".
* Johnny Cash included a reference to the disease, even correctly noting its source in bird droppings, in the song "Beans for Breakfast".
* Bob Dylan was hospitalized due to histoplasmosis in 1997, causing the cancellation of concerts in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
* Bob Dylan was hospitalized due to histoplasmosis in 1997, causing the cancellation of concerts in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
* In the episode Family, episode 21 of season 3 of the television show 'House, M.D.' a patient was diagnosed with histoplasmosis.
* In the episode Family, episode 21 of season 3 of the television show 'House, M.D.' a patient was diagnosed with histoplasmosis.


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{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|2}}


[[Category:Infectious disease]]
[[Category:Fungal diseases]]
[[Category:Fungal diseases]]
[[Category:Rat carried diseases]]
[[Category:Rat carried diseases]]

Revision as of 15:21, 1 February 2016

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Serge Korjian M.D.; Vidit Bhargava, M.B.B.S [2]

Historical Perspective

Initial Discovery

  • Histoplasma capsulatum was first described by Samuel Taylor Darling, an American pathologist, during his work in the Ancon Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone and later as chief of the laboratories of the Isthmian Canal Commission.[1]
  • Before Darling's discovery, the disease was unknown.
  • He observed an organism in a in patient's autopsy material that resembled Leishmania that he, at the time, falsely identified as a protozoan.
  • The patient died of a generalized disease associated with hepatosplenomegaly and anemia, a syndrome similar to the findings of Leishman and Donovan.
  • Despite his very crude equipment by modern standards, Darling was able to identify these "plasmodium-like" organisms in histiocytes, hence coining the name Histoplasma.
  • The term "capsulatum" stemmed from Darling's false assumption that the organism has a capsule.[2]

Reclassification

  • In 1912, Henrique da Rocha-Lima, a Brazilian tropical disease specialist, reported findings from a comparison between Leishmania and Histoplasma and concluded that Histoplasma more closely resembled a yeast than a protozoan.
  • Up until the early 1940s, histoplasmosis was considered a fatal tropical disease not prevalent in the United States.
  • Dr. Charles E. Smith was the first person to suggest that the rise in pulmonary calcifications in patients with a negative tuberculin test could be due to Histoplama.[2]

Isolation and Culture

  • In 1928, Dr. Edna H. Tompkins identified the first case of histoplasmosis in a living patient's blood smear.
  • In 1933, Dr. William A. DeMonbreun of Vanderbilt University became the first person to successfully culture H. capsulatum species from the same patient identified by Dr. Tompkins.
  • Dr. DeMonbreun also fulfilled Koch's postulates after he injected the culture material into animals.
  • He also suggested that the disease may not be as low in prevalence as initially hypothesized due to mild cases and carrier forms.
  • In 1948, Dr. Chester W. Emmons isolated and cultured H.capsulatum from a soil sample for the first time.[2]

Histoplasmosis in Popular Culture

  • Johnny Cash included a reference to the disease, even correctly noting its source in bird droppings, in the song "Beans for Breakfast".
  • Bob Dylan was hospitalized due to histoplasmosis in 1997, causing the cancellation of concerts in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
  • In the episode Family, episode 21 of season 3 of the television show 'House, M.D.' a patient was diagnosed with histoplasmosis.

References

  1. Hegner RW (1925). "SAMUEL TAYLOR DARLING 1872-1925". Science. 62 (1593): 23–4. doi:10.1126/science.62.1593.23. PMID 17738786.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 BAUM GL, SCHWARZ J (1957). "The history of histoplasmosis, 1906 to 1956". N Engl J Med. 256 (6): 253–8. doi:10.1056/NEJM195702072560605. PMID 13400245.