Definition of "histoplasmosis" [histoplasmosis]

• A disease caused by the inhalation of spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, most often asymptomatic but occasionally producing acute pneumonia or an influenzalike illness and spreading to other organs and systems in the body. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Dr. Jeffrey Siegel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the agency recently became concerned when 240 cases of a fungal infection called histoplasmosis surfaced in people taking the arthritis drugs, resulting in 45 deaths."
• "Use of Cimzia, Enbrel Humira and Remicade may put patients at risk for deadly fungal infections such as histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, and coccidioidomycosis (San Joaquin Valley Fever). disease that seeks out the patient's lungs as primary target for its workings, has been known since 1905 as Darling's disease."
• "How did it become a blockbuster even though such drugs which include Remicade, Enbrel and Cimzia and are called TNF blockers are linked to TB, rare cancers and lethal infections like histoplasmosis?"