Today there are a variety of specific skin tests and also tests in which the organisms are examined under the microscope that differentiate other fungus diseases and tuberculosis from histoplasmosis. Treatment Most cases of histoplasmosis require little or no treatment. After their flu-like symptoms, patients recover of their own accord. A drug, amphotericin B, has been found effective in the more severe cases of histoplasmosis. Its use requires hospitalization, however, because the drug must be introduced into the bloodstream almost daily for a period of weeks or months.
Side effects have to be carefully monitored.
Surgery removal of sections of the lung that are imbedded with histoplasmosis spores may sometimes be indicated when there has been extensive damage. Prevention Simple avoidance of caves, belfries, old chicken houses, and the like is one possible way to escape histoplasmosis. But this may well be impossible, particularly for people in rural areas. And even if a real effort were made to stay away from places of suspected infection, there are so many areas of unknown infection that avoidance of histoplasmosis would seem to be almost a matter of luck. Before sweeping them out, wet down the floor to prevent dust from rising.