Chronic histoplasmosis is typically diagnosed in patients who are immunocompromised or severely debilitated and who either live in or who have travelled to endemic areas. We report the case of a young, otherwise immunocompetent male patient who presented to a New York hospital with lobar consolidation and was found to have chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis. He described no history of travel to an endemic area. Immunological workup later revealed selective immunoglobulin M (IgM) deficiency. The literature has suggested a link between IgM deficiency and fungal infections. Recent research has also proposed a link between autoimmunity and IgM deficiency. Our clinical vignette describes the case of a patient with selective IgM deficiency who was diagnosed with pulmonary histoplasmosis without any clinical evidence of autoimmune disease.
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