Turning Up the Heat on Histoplasma capsulatum

摘要

At least 70,000 fungal species inhabit our planet, yet remarkably few of them cause disease in humans. This happy coexistence may be set to change, however, as opportunistic fungal species (such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus) and pathogenic fungi (such as Histoplasma capsulatum) take advantage of patients who are immunosuppressed either because of treatment with toxic cancer drugs or because of a primary infection with, for example, human immunodeficiency virus. The AIDS epidemic itself has changed the epidemiology of fungal diseases with a dramatic increase in the number of opportunistic fungal infections—for example, the incidence of cryp-tococcal meningitis caused by the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans has increased 1000-fold in New York City alone.