Disseminated Histoplasmosis in HIV-Infected Patients: A Description of 34 Years of Clinical and Therapeutic Practice

Disseminated histoplasmosis is the main AIDS-defining infection of French Guiana. We aim to describe our therapeutic experience for 349 patients with disseminated histoplasmosis between 1 January 1981 and 10 January 2014 in French Guiana. Survival, delays for treatment initiation, duration of induction therapy, and associated initial treatments are described. The death rate was 14.9 per 100 person-years, with an early drop in survival. Among those who died, >1/3 died within a year of HIV diagnosis, and ¾ of all patients with histoplasmosis had been diagnosed for HIV within a year. As induction treatment, 29% received liposomal amphotericin B, 12.9% received deoxycholate amphotericin B, 54% received itraconazole alone, and 21.8% received liposomal amphotericin B and itraconazole. The median delay between symptoms-onset and hospitalization was 19.5 days (IQR = 5–105). Liposomal amphotericin B or itraconazole was initiated shortly after admission. Treatment initiation was often presumptive for liposomal amphotericin B (27%) and itraconazole (20%). The median duration of liposomal amphotericin B treatment was 7 days (IQR = 5–11 days). The present study shows that ¾ of the patients were profoundly immunocompromised and had been diagnosed for HIV within the past year. Antifungal treatment was often initiated presumptively on admission. Over time there was a significant gradual decline in early death.