title: Histoplasmosis diagnosis using a polymerase chain reaction method. Application on human samples in French Guiana, South America.
abstract: Untreated histoplasmosis is life threatening, especially in immunosuppressed patients. In French Guiana, South America, it is one of the most common opportunistic infections in AIDS patients. Twenty-one cases of disseminated histoplasmosis were diagnosed in 2004 in the mycology laboratory of Cayenne hospital. Culture samples for histoplasmosis diagnosis is simple, sensitive, and specific, but it is a lengthy process. Management of the disease is then dangerously delayed. In this work, we tested a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method on 40 samples from patients with suspected disseminated histoplasmosis. The recently described Hcp100 nested PCR method was used to detect Histoplasma capsulatum DNA in these samples. All of the positive cultures for H. capsulatum were also positive with PCR method. Tested on other fungi or negative culture, it also showed high specificity. Furthermore, it allows treating patients more rapidly. Culture remains necessary, but histoplasmosis PCR offers great prospects, on a clinical point of view.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Hospitalo-universitaire de Parasitologie et Mycologie Médicale, Equipe EA 3593, UFR de Médecine de l'Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Campus Saint-Denis, BP 718, 97336 Cayenne, Guyane Francaise, France.
authors.forename: Danièle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maubon
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aznar
mesh_terms: D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D005616:French Guiana; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006658:Histoplasma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006660:Histoplasmosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D005656:Fungal Proteins