Histoplasma Capsulatum as a Cause of Chronic Ulcerative Enteritis

Human infection with Histoplasma capsulatum is now a well recognized condition, 30 cases having been reported in detail up to the present time.1Incomplete information concerning 11 additional cases, some of which are in the process of publication, has been made available to us.2Darling3is credited with first describing this organism and reporting 3 cases in 1906, 1908 and 1909. However, Strong4is said to have reported a case in 1906, which is referred to by Meleney. No further instances were reported until 1926, but during the past few years the condition has been reported with greatly increasing frequency. Although originally believed to be a protozoon, recent studies of the organism by DeMonbreun5and others have shown that it is a yeast. The clinical picture of histoplasmosis is a variable one, being in general that of a chronic, febrile illness affecting all age groups