FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON HISTOPLASMIN SENSITIVITY IN THE UNITED STATES

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Abstract
Histoplasmin skin tests were given to 1.2 million recruits who entered the U. S. Navy from 1958 through 1969. The geographic variation in frequency of reactions among white recruits, ages 17 to 21, was similar to that described in earlier papers. Frequencies were highest in the eastcentral part of the country, and lower throughout the east and southwest. Frequencies were also higher among farm than nonfarm residents, and higher among men who reported contact with tuberculosis than among those who did not. Over the 12-year period of the study, the rates have tended to fall. Frequency distributions by size indicated that most reactions in the eastern half of the country were large and were compatible with infection with Histoplasma capsulatum. In the south, however, many were small, and characteristic of cross-reactions. In the southwest, infection with Coccidioides immitis appears to be responsible for many of these reactions. In the southcentral and southeastern areas, other agents must be involved. It is suggested that a benign form of blastomycosis may be one of these agents.

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