Coccidioides

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Coccidioides
Coccidioides immitis microscopy.jpg
Coccidioides immitis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Eurotiomycetes
Order: Onygenales
Family: Onygenaceae
Genus: Coccidioides
G.W.Stiles (1896) [1]
Type species
Coccidioides immitis
G.W.Stiles (1896)
Species

C. esteriformis
C. histosporocellularis
C. immitis
C. posadasii
C. rosea

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. [2] 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. [3]

Clinical presentation

C. immitis and C. posadasii share the same asexual life cycle, switching between saprobic (on left) and parasitic (on right) life stages. Life cycle of Coccidioides.PNG
C. immitis and C. posadasii share the same asexual life cycle, switching between saprobic (on left) and parasitic (on right) life stages.

Coccidioidomycosis is amazingly diverse in terms of its scope of clinical presentation, as well as clinical severity. About 60% of Coccidioides infections as determined by serologic conversion are asymptomatic. The most common clinical syndrome in the other 40% of infected patients is an acute respiratory illness characterized by fever, cough, and pleuritic pain. Skin manifestations, such as erythema nodosum, are also common with Coccidioides infection. Coccidioides infection can cause a severe and difficult-to-treat meningitis in AIDS and other immunocompromised patients, and occasionally in immunocompetent hosts. Infection can sometimes cause acute respiratory distress syndrome and fatal multilobar pneumonia. The risk of symptomatic infection increases with age.

Epidemiology

The primary coccidioidomycosis-endemic areas are located in Southern California and southern Arizona, and northern Mexico, in Sonora, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Baja California, where it resides in soil. [4] Both C. immitis and C. posadasii were viewed as desert saprophytes, but recent genomic research revealed Coccidioides species to have evolved interacting with their animal hosts. [5]

Etymology

The soil fungus Coccidioides was discovered in 1892 by Alejandro Posadas, a medical student, in an Argentinian soldier with widespread disease. Biopsy specimens revealed organisms that resembled the protozoan Coccidia (from the Greek kokkis, "little berry"). In 1896, Gilchrist and Rixford named the organism Coccidioides ("resembling Coccidia") immitis (Latin for “harsh,” describing the clinical course). Ophüls and Moffitt proved that C. immitis was a fungus rather than a protozoan in 1900. In 2002, C. immitis was divided into a second species, C. posadasii , after Alejandro Posadas. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coccidioidomycosis</span> Fungal infection

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.

Atypical pneumonia, also known as walking pneumonia, is any type of pneumonia not caused by one of the pathogens most commonly associated with the disease. Its clinical presentation contrasts to that of "typical" pneumonia. A variety of microorganisms can cause it. When it develops independently from another disease, it is called primary atypical pneumonia (PAP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Histoplasmosis</span> Human disease

Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection caused by 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.

<i>Talaromyces marneffei</i> Species of fungus

Talaromyces marneffei, formerly called Penicillium marneffei, was identified in 1956. The organism is endemic to southeast Asia where it is an important cause of opportunistic infections in those with HIV/AIDS-related immunodeficiency. Incidence of T. marneffei infections has increased due to a rise in HIV infection rates in the region.

<i>Coccidioides immitis</i> Species of fungus

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coccidia</span> Subclass of protists

Coccidia (Coccidiasina) are a subclass of microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled obligate intracellular parasites belonging to the apicomplexan class Conoidasida. As obligate intracellular parasites, they must live and reproduce within an animal cell. Coccidian parasites infect the intestinal tracts of animals, and are the largest group of apicomplexan protozoa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fungal infection</span> Disease caused by fungi to animals or humans

Fungal infection, also known as mycosis, is a disease caused by fungi. Different types are traditionally divided according to the part of the body affected; superficial, subcutaneous, and systemic. Superficial fungal infections include common tinea of the skin, such as tinea of the body, groin, hands, feet and beard, and yeast infections such as pityriasis versicolor. Subcutaneous types include eumycetoma and chromoblastomycosis, which generally affect tissues in and beneath the skin. Systemic fungal infections are more serious and include cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, pneumocystis pneumonia, aspergillosis and mucormycosis. Signs and symptoms range widely. There is usually a rash with superficial infection. Fungal infection within the skin or under the skin may present with a lump and skin changes. Pneumonia-like symptoms or meningitis may occur with a deeper or systemic infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opportunistic infection</span> Infection caused by pathogens that take advantage of an opportunity not normally available

An opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens that take advantage of an opportunity not normally available. These opportunities can stem from a variety of sources, such as a weakened immune system, an altered microbiome, or breached integumentary barriers. Many of these pathogens do not necessarily cause disease in a healthy host that has a non-compromised immune system, and can, in some cases, act as commensals until the balance of the immune system is disrupted. Opportunistic infections can also be attributed to pathogens which cause mild illness in healthy individuals but lead to more serious illness when given the opportunity to take advantage of an immunocompromised host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fungal pneumonia</span> Infection of the lungs by fungi

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimorphic fungus</span> Fungi that can exist as mold or yeast

Dimorphic fungi are fungi that can exist in the form of both mold and yeast. This is usually brought about by change in temperature and the fungi are also described as thermally dimorphic fungi. An example is Talaromyces marneffei, a human pathogen that grows as a mold at room temperature, and as a yeast at human body temperature.

<i>Coccidioides posadasii</i> Species of fungus

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protozoan infection</span> Parasitic disease caused by a protozoan

Protozoan infections are parasitic diseases caused by organisms formerly classified in the kingdom Protozoa. These organisms are now classified in the supergroups Excavata, Amoebozoa, Harosa, and Archaeplastida. They are usually contracted by either an insect vector or by contact with an infected substance or surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fungal meningitis</span> Meningitis caused by a fungal infection

Fungal meningitis refers to meningitis caused by a fungal infection.

<i>Uncinocarpus</i> Genus of fungi

Uncinocarpus is a genus of fungi within the Onygenaceae family. The name is derived from the Latin word uncinus, meaning "hook" and the Greek word karpos (καρπός), meaning "fruit". It was distinguished from the genus Gymnoascus based on keratinolytic capacity, ascospore morphology and the development of hooked, occasionally spiraling appendages. Alternatively, Uncinocarpus species may possess helically coiled or smooth, wavy appendages, or lack appendages altogether, an example of such species being U. orissi.

California Fever may refer to:

Emmonsia parva is a filamentous, saprotrophic fungus and one of three species within the genus Emmonsia. The fungus is most known for its causal association with the lung disease, adiaspiromycosis which occurs most commonly in small mammals but is also seen in humans. The disease was first described from rodents in Arizona, and the first human case was reported in France in 1964. Since then, the disease has been reported from Honduras, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Russia, the United States of America and Guatemala. Infections in general are quite rare, especially in humans.

<i>Uncinocarpus reesii</i> Species of fungus

Uncinocarpus reesii is a species of saprotrophic microfungi that grows in soil and on keratinous materials such as hair, feathers and skin. It was the first species to be designated as part of the genus Uncinocarpus, owing in part to its characteristic development of hooked (uncinate) appendages. As the closest non-pathogenic relative of Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, it has become a subject of research interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrnie Gifford</span> American medical physician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester Wilson Emmons</span> American mycologist (1900–1985)

Chester Wilson Emmons was an American scientist, who researched fungi that cause diseases. He was the first mycologist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where for 31 years he served as head of its Medical Mycology Section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libero Ajello</span> American mycologist (1916–2004)

Libero Ajello was an American mycologist. He cofounded and was first president of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM). He was the head of the Division of Mycotic Diseases at the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), and editor of the ISHAM Journal Medical Mycology for several years. He was one of the first researchers to investigate histoplasmosis and coccidioidomycosis in the United States and made valuable contributions to the comprehensive field of veterinary and human fungal disease diagnosis.

References

This article cites public domain text from the CDC, as shown.

  1. Rixford E, Gilchrist TC (1896). "Two cases of protozoan (coccidioidal) infection of the skin and other organs". Johns Hopkins Hospital Reports. 1: 209–268 (see p. 243).
  2. "Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever)". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  3. Fauci, Anthony S. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill Medical, 2008.
  4. Baptista-Rosas, Riquelme M., Hinojosa A. Ecological niche modeling of Coccidioides spp. in Western North American deserts. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2007, Vol. 1111, pp. 35–46.
  5. Sharpton, T. J.; Stajich, J. E.; Rounsley, S. D.; et al. (October 2009). "Comparative Genomic Analyses of the Human Fungal Pathogens Coccidioides and Their Relatives". Genome Research. 19 (10): 1722–31. doi:10.1101/gr.087551.108. PMC   2765278 . PMID   19717792. Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  6. Anonymous (June 2015). "Etymologia: Coccidioides". Emerg Infect Dis. 21 (6): 1031. doi:10.3201/eid2106.ET2106. PMC   4451898 .