Paracoccidioidomicosis Diagnóstico por el laboratorio de 333 casos

Abstract

Paracoccidioidomycosis is the most important systemic mycosis in our country, as demonstrated by the high frequency of diagnosed cases. In this report, 333 paracoccidioidomycosis cases diagnosed at the four laboratories of the Pulmonary Mycoses Program of the Instituto Nacional de Salud and at the Mycology Laboratory of the same institute during a twelve year period are presented. In relation to the age and sex distribution, 316 patients (95%) were male, and 17 (5%) female (male:female ratio 18.5:l) and 55.5% of the patients were in the age group 41-60. Regarding the clinical presentation, the chronic adult form was the predominant one (99%) with unifocal presentation in 50.7% of the cases. The ample geographic distribution of the disease demonstrates the importance of the diagnostic centers. The sensitivities of 97% for immunodiffusion and 90% for complement fixation validate them as important diagnostic tests.