title: From suspected Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to confirmed histoplasma meningitis.
abstract: A 77-year-old man with chronic obstructive lung disease who was on steroids, presented to the hospital after a fall with subacute headaches and ataxia. During the patient's hospital course, his clinical condition deteriorated with myoclonic jerks, fevers and severe encephalopathy. An extensive workup, including EEG, brain MRI and lumbar puncture, revealed possible Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Unfortunately, the patient failed to improve and died 12 days after admission. A brain-only autopsy revealed he had acute histoplasma meningitis with patchy superficial cerebritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Physicians, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Armen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khararjian
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wheat
authors.forename: Sean X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crain
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baras
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006658:Histoplasma; D006660:Histoplasmosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*