Coccidioidomycosis

Abstract

Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection acquired via inhalation of spores of soil-dwelling fungi Coccidioides immitis (California) and Coccidioides posadasii (elsewhere), often after disruption of contaminated soils, that is, construction/excavation, dust storms, or earthquakes. It is also known as San Joaquin Valley fever, or simply Valley fever. Primary infection manifests most frequently as a community-acquired pneumonia (chest pain, cough, fever, with or without hemoptysis that suggests pulmonary cavity) but can cause systemic symptoms (drenching sweats, weight loss, fatigue) for weeks to months, skin lesions (erythema nodosum or erythema multiforme), and rheumatologic symptoms (“desert rheumatism”), or can be entirely asymptomatic. In high-risk individuals, infection can disseminate to the skin, bone, soft tissues, meninges, and sometimes the eye.