Contribution to the natural history of paracoccidioidomycosis: identification of the primary pulmonary infection in the severe acute form of the disease--a case report.

Several aspects of the pathogenesis of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) have not yet been fully clarified. We describe a patient with an overwhelmingly acute form of PCM who presented with clinically apparent pulmonary infection that spontaneously subsided while yeast cells disseminated systemically. This case may help to explain the paradox of the absence of pulmonary involvement in the acute disseminated form of PCM.