Pulmonary blastomycosis presenting as primary lung cancer.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Blastomycosis is an endemic mycosis in North America that is caused by the dimorphic fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis. The illness is a systemic disease with a wide variety of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary manifestations. The initial presentation of blastomycosis may easily be mistaken for other infectious or non-infectious etiologies. CASE PRESENTATION:We present the case of a 52-year-old African-American male and former smoker that presented to his primary care provider with a 2-week history of non-productive cough, night sweats and weight loss. Initially diagnosed with primary lung malignancy, the patient was subsequently found to have pulmonary blastomycosis mimicking lung cancer. The patient underwent a successful course of treatment with posaconazole. CONCLUSIONS:Chronic blastomycosis can present with clinical and radiographic features indistinguishable from thoracic malignancies. There is no clinical syndrome specific for blastomycosis, thus a high degree of suspicion is required for early diagnosis. In this case report, we review recent evidence in radiographic features, diagnostic considerations and treatment of the disease.

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1186/s12879-018-3244-0

Publication Info

Hussaini, Syed Mohammed Qasim, Deng Madut, Betty C Tong, Elizabeth N Pavlisko, Wiley A Schell, John R Perfect and Nathan M Thielman (2018). Pulmonary blastomycosis presenting as primary lung cancer. BMC infectious diseases, 18(1). p. 336. 10.1186/s12879-018-3244-0 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18966.

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