A case of human pulmonary adiaspiromycosis - the 18th from Brazil - is reported for two purposes: to contribute to the knowledge of the clinical course of the disease and to discuss the basis for using the transbronchial biopsy in demonstrating the causative organism. The patient, an 18 year old male, lived in the Paranoa village, near Brasilia, DF, where he worked in a joinery, making straw-brooms. In February 1997, he was admitted to the Brasilia University Hospital, with severe respiratory manifestations. The main symptom was a ventilatory-dependent thoracic pain. A chest roentgenogram showed a diffuse interstitial infiltrate, in both lungs, with micronodular pattern suggestive of a miliary process. No bacterial or fungal organisms could be found in the sputum or bronchial lavages of the patient. A transbronchial biopsy was then performed and the microscopic examination of the lung tissue revealed several large adioconidia. Adiaspiromycosis is believed to be a self-healing condition, since in the great majority of the so far known cases spontaneous remission of the pulmonary lesions has been the rule. Transbronchial biopsy, due to its simplicity, is indicated as the procedure of choice to demonstrate the adiaconidia of the agent in tissue sections - the only way to definitely establish the diagnosis of adiaspiromycosis.

Keywords: Adiaspiromycosis. Pulmonary mycosis. Emmonsia crescens. Emmonsia parva var crescens. Chrysosporium parvum var crescens.