Primary cutaneous histoplasmosis in a skin scrape cytology

Histoplasmosis refers to an infection caused by histoplasma capsulatum, a dimorphic fungus. We report a rare case of cutaneous histoplasmosis in an immunocompromised patient. The diagnosis was made by the cytopathologic examination of skin scraping smear, which showed numerous intracellular and extracellular periodic acid-schiff positive rounded yeast cells. The patient showed dramatic response with itraconazole and amphotericin B. We opine that skin scrape cytology can be useful in establishing the diagnosis of the disease, specially when the other facilities are not readily available.