[The relationship between paracoccidioidomycosis and alcoholism]

The relationship between alcoholism and paracoccidioidomycosis was evaluated by the case-control method. The alcohol consumption of 4 groups of patients was compared: 50 patients with chronic paracoccidioidomycosis, 20 patients with the acute or subacute form of this mycosis and their respective control groups of hospitalized patients, each case matched by sex and age. Between September 1986 and July 1988 the cases and their controls were interviewed by one and the same investigator using a questionnaire on drinking habits: quantity and type of beverage consumed, time of onset and frequency of use and whether they had manifested symptoms of inebriation or of alcohol dependence previously. As compared with control patients, the mean daily ingestion of alcohol in excess of 60 ml was more frequent in the chronic paracoccidioidomycosis group (50.0% x 30.0%). These patients also preferred to drink sugar cane brandy more frequently (89.4% x 68.3%). When the average daily consumption of ethyl alcohol exceeded 100 ml, most patients presented a recurrence of infection during or after antifungal therapy. In the acute-subacute paracoccidioidomycosis group, 64.3% of the patients reported inebriation on one or more occasions, versus 17.6% in the respective control group. The results suggest that alcoholism can be a predisposing factor to paracoccidioidomycosis and, probably, accounts for a worse prognosis for this infection.