Question

Healing with calcification is a feature of

• A. Cryptococcosis
• B. Mucormycosis
• C. Aspergillosis
• D. Histoplasmosis

Hint:

Think of the fungal infection that mimics tuberculosis in its healing pattern.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need the fungal infection whose lesions typically heal by depositing calcium, leaving behind calcified scars.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Chronic granulomatous infections that provoke a strong fibrosing immune response, similar to tuberculosis, tend to heal with calcification. Acute, rapidly destructive infections heal with necrosis and fibrosis, not calcification.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Histoplasmosis, caused by Histoplasma capsulatum, produces small granulomas in the lung, spleen and liver, very similar in behaviour to tuberculosis. These granulomas commonly heal by fibrosis followed by calcification, giving multiple small calcified nodules seen on chest X-ray.
Cryptococcosis usually causes a gelatinous, mucoid type of lesion with little fibrous or calcific reaction, and is more known for causing meningitis in immunocompromised patients rather than calcified granulomas.
Mucormycosis is an acute, rapidly invasive fungal infection of blood vessels that causes tissue death and necrosis. It progresses too fast for a slow calcifying healing response and is often fatal without urgent treatment.
Aspergillosis in its non-invasive form forms an aspergilloma, a fungus ball sitting in an existing lung cavity, while the invasive form causes necrosis and haemorrhage. Neither typically produces a calcified healed lesion the way histoplasmosis does.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Histoplasmosis is the fungal infection known for healing with calcification, mimicking the pattern seen in healed tuberculosis.