Bacteria that cause disease known as histooA new study suggests that plasma is found in the soil of nearly every state in the United States. The researchers behind the study say doctors may miss diagnosing infections, which can sometimes be fatal, because they rely on outdated risk maps.
according to CDC, histoplasma, or histo, is found in the soils of the central and eastern United States, primarily in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. But that assumption is based on his 1950s and his 1960s research, says the new research team. paper Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Inhaling fungal spores can cause an infection called histoplasmosis.
“Every few weeks I get a call from a doctor in the Boston area, with a different doctor calling me about a case they can’t solve,” said study author Andrej Spec, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. said. , press release“They always start by saying, ‘There’s no Hist here, but it looks like a Hist.’ I say, you have history.”
Lead author Patrick B. Magi, also a Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases at Washington University in St. Louis, and his colleagues analyzed more than 45 million Medicare paid recipients from 2007 to 2016. They looked at diagnostics across the country. Three fungal diseases: histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and blastomycosis. Histo, the most common, caused an incidence of clinically relevant disease in at least one county of 48 of the 50 states and in Washington, DC.
“Fungal infections are much more common and widespread than people realize,” Speck said in a release. We haven’t invested enough.I think that’s starting to change, but slowly.”Climate change is driving This will spread as warming creates more suitable habitat for fungi.
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While histo is easily combatable by healthy adults, and many people are asymptomatic upon exposure, immunocompromised people, infants and people over the age of 55 may experience cough, fever, chest pain and pain. can develop more serious illnesses such as body pain, fatigue, according to to the CDC. Symptoms appear within 3 to 17 days after exposure. Most symptoms he disappears within a month, but when it spreads from a person’s lungs, the disease can become severe and require months of treatment.
People can be exposed to histo and other fungal pathogens through soil-destructive activities such as farming, landscaping, and construction. . Spec said: “It is important that the medical community recognizes that these fungi are present basically everywhere and that they should be taken seriously and included when considering diagnoses.”
