In HIV-infected individuals, macrophages, the key defense effector cells, manifest defective activity in their interactions with a wide variety of opportunistic pathogens, including fungi and protozoa. Understanding the morphological characteristics of intracellular opportunistic pathogens in addition to their pathogenesis is of critical importance to provide optimal therapy, thereby decreasing morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients. We herein present a case of disseminated histoplasmosis confused with disseminated visceral leishmaniasis in an HIV-infected individual from Guyana who developed intracellular organisms within alveolar macrophages.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.