Histoplasmosis in Veterans Administration hospitals in middle America.

A series of clinical studies of histoplasmosis based on demonstrations of etiology led to descriptions of chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis, the principal type in adults, and amphotericin B as an effective therapy. A participant recreates the atmosphere of discovery during the contributions of a team comprising a mycologist, a surgeon and two physicians using cultures of excised lung and sputum to clearly identify cases of chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis. Subsequently cooperating physicians in several V.A. Hospitals carried out randomized studies of treatment, dosage, and side effects that established Amphotericin B as the sole curative therapy for chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis for 20 years.