Cytodiagnosis of histoplasmosis: case reports from two patients with variable clinical presentation

Abstract

Histoplasmosis has emerged as an important opportunistic fungal infection in immunocompromised patients. Histoplasma is a dimorphic fungus that primarily involves lung and the environmental reservoir is soil. Although several cases of histoplasmosis have been reported in India but cytological diagnosis was made in a few cases. We are presenting two cases of histoplasmosis diagnosed on fine-needle aspiration cytology. In the first case, pulmonary histoplasmosis was diagnosed on transbronchial needle aspiration of lung in a 41-year-old immunocompetent male, while second case was of disseminated histoplasmosis in 40-year-old immunocompromised female diagnosed on cytology of cervical lymph node. FNAC is a simple, safe, and rapid technique to establish the initial diagnosis, thus promoting early treatment and favorable outcome especially in the immunocompromised patients.