Histoplasmosis en México

In the last 10 years, important information and a well-defined panorama on the different aspects of histoplasmosis' epidemiology have been achieved in Mexico. These findings were attained through immunological and molecular studies made in representative geographic areas from the Mexican Republic. The endemic and epidemic forms of the disease are widely distributed in the country, although the latter is more important due to its high-fatality ratio. Histoplasmosis infection, revealed by skin-test reaction to histoplasmin antigen prepared from its etiologic agent, the pathogenic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, has been referred to most of the Mexican states. However, its prevalence is variable according to the geographic zones of the country and even changes within the same state, a condition related to certain occupational activities associated to social-economic factors. Besides, the highest percentage of positive histoplasmin skin-test has been detected among the male population, which is probably tightly connected to high risk occupational activities, mainly performed by men. Pheno- and geno-typing of H. capsulatum have been promoted to study different epidemiological aspects of histoplasmosis and have allowed to propose a fungal molecular pattern related to its geographic distribution in the environment, as well as to characterize sources of infection by associating isolates from different origins in nature with those from clinical cases. Studies of fungal molecular markers support a preliminary classification of H. capsulatum isolates in the countr