SIMULTANEOUS NONFATAL SYSTEMIC HISTOPLASMOSIS IN TWO COUSINS

UP UNTIL 1946 only 75 cases of systemic histoplasmosis had been reported in the literature and the impression obtained was that this disease was uniformly fatal.¹ Subsequent studies initiated by Christie and Peterson² and Palmer³ demonstrated the relation of histoplasmin skin sensitivity to pulmonary calcification in tuberculin-negative persons. The actual infection leading to this state of histoplasmin sensitivity and pulmonary calcification has seldom been observed. In only 5 cases⁴ has the infection been proved in patients who were ill with the disease and who subsequently recovered. Such cases offer strong support toward bridging the gap between the concept of uniform fatality on one hand and the benign subclinical forms on the other. The following 2 cases represent further instances of nonfatal systemic histoplasmosis with apparent recovery.

REPORT OF CASES  Case 1.—The details of this case, that of J. H., an 8 year old white boy, were