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Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as cocci, Valley fever, as well as California fever, desert rheumatism, or San Joaquin Valley fever, is a mammalian fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii. Coccidioidomycosis is endemic in certain parts of the United States in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and northern Mexico.
Cyanosis is the bluish or purplish discoloration of the skin or mucous membranes due to the tissues near the skin surface having low oxygen saturation. Based on Lundsgaard and Van Slyke's work, it is classically described as occurring if 5.0 g/dL of deoxyhemoglobin or greater is present. This was based on an estimate of capillary saturation based on a mean of arterial versus peripheral venous blood gas measurements. Since estimation of hypoxia is usually now based either on arterial blood gas measurement or pulse oximetry, this is probably an overestimate, with evidence that levels of 2.0 g/dL of deoxyhemoglobin may reliably produce cyanosis. Since, however, the presence of cyanosis is dependent upon there being an absolute quantity of deoxyhemoglobin, the bluish color is more readily apparent in those with high hemoglobin counts than it is with those with anemia. Also, the bluer the color, the more difficult it is to detect on deeply pigmented skin. When signs of cyanosis first appear, such as on the lips or fingers, intervention should be made within 3–5 minutes because a severe hypoxia or severe circulatory failure may have induced the cyanosis.
Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease affects primarily the lungs. Occasionally, other organs are affected; called disseminated histoplasmosis, it can be fatal if left untreated.
A granuloma is an aggregation of macrophages that forms in response to chronic inflammation. This occurs when the immune system attempts to isolate foreign substances that it is otherwise unable to eliminate. Such substances include infectious organisms including bacteria and fungi, as well as other materials such as foreign objects, keratin, and suture fragments.
Nail clubbing, also known as digital clubbing or clubbing, is a deformity of the finger or toe nails associated with a number of diseases, mostly of the heart and lungs. When it occurs together with joint effusions, joint pains, and abnormal skin and bone growth it is known as hypertrophic osteoarthropathy.
Coccidioides immitis is a pathogenic fungus that resides in the soil in certain parts of the southwestern United States, northern Mexico, and a few other areas in the Western Hemisphere.
Mycoses are infectious diseases caused by pathogenic fungi. They include fungal infections of the skin, just under the skin and ones that are more deep or widespread such as histoplasmosis and blastomycosis. They include yeast infections such as candidiasis and pityriasis versicolor, and include several other opportunistic fungal infections such as aspergillosis and mucormycosis. Several, including sporotrichosis, chromoblastomycosis and mycetoma are neglected.
CREST syndrome, also known as the limited cutaneous form of systemic sclerosis (lcSSc), is a multisystem connective tissue disorder. The acronym "CREST" refers to the five main features: calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia.
AIDS-defining clinical conditions is the list of diseases published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are associated with AIDS, and used worldwide as a guideline for AIDS diagnosis. CDC exclusively uses the term AIDS-defining clinical conditions, but the other terms remain in common use.
Fungal pneumonia is an infection of the lungs by fungi. It can be caused by either endemic or opportunistic fungi or a combination of both. Case mortality in fungal pneumonias can be as high as 90% in immunocompromised patients, though immunocompetent patients generally respond well to anti-fungal therapy.
Voriconazole, sold under the brand name Vfend among others, is an antifungal medication used to treat a number of fungal infections. This includes aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, penicilliosis, and infections by Scedosporium or Fusarium. It can be taken by mouth or used by injection into a vein.
The CDC Classification System for HIV Infection is the medical classification system used by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to classify HIV disease and infection. The system is used to allow the government to handle epidemic statistics and define who receives US government assistance.
Fever of unknown origin (FUO), refers to a condition in which the patient has an elevated temperature (fever) but despite investigations by a physician no explanation has been found.
Coccidioides is a genus of dimorphic ascomycetes in the family Onygenaceae. Member species are the cause of coccidioidomycosis, also known as San Joaquin Valley fever, an infectious fungal disease largely confined to the Western Hemisphere and endemic in the Southwestern United States. The host acquires the disease by respiratory inhalation of spores disseminated in their natural habitat. The causative agents of coccidioidomycosis are Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii. Both C. immitis and C. posadasii are indistinguishable during laboratory testing and commonly referred in literature as Coccidioides.
Botryomycosis; is a rare chronic granulomatous bacterial infection that affects the skin, and sometimes the viscera.
Coccidioides posadasii is a pathogenic fungus that, along with Coccidioides immitis, is the causative agent of coccidioidomycosis, or valley fever in humans. It resides in the soil in certain parts of the Southwestern United States, northern Mexico, and some other areas in the Americas, but its evolution was connected to its animal hosts.
A lung nodule or pulmonary nodule is a relatively small focal density in the lung. A solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) or coin lesion, is a mass in the lung smaller than 3 centimeters in diameter. There may also be multiple nodules.
Disseminated coccidioidomycosis is a systemic infection with Coccidioides immitis, in which 15-20% of people develop skin lesions.
Primary cutaneous coccidioidomycosis is a skin condition caused by Coccidioides immitis following a definite history of inoculation or a colonized splinter found in the skin lesion.
Myrnie Ade Gifford (1892–1966) was an American medical physician. She was the first to identify that San Joaquin Valley Fever was the primary stage of coccidioidomycosis.
References
- 1 2 James, William D.; Berger, Timothy G.; et al. (2006). Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: clinical Dermatology. Saunders Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-7216-2921-6.
- ↑ "Coccidioidoma". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 6 January 2010.