coccidioidomycosis
noun
coc·cid·i·oi·do·my·co·sis
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Definition of coccidioidomycosis
: a disease especially of humans and domestic animals that is caused by inhalation of spores from either of two fungi (Coccidioides immitis or C. posadasii) found in dry soils of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Central America and that may be asymptomatic or present as a mild to serious flu-like illness marked chiefly by fever, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, and pneumonia but sometimes becoming disseminated beyond the lungs especially to the skin, bones, joints, and meninges resulting in painful lesions, swollen joints, or meningitis
— called also cocci, San Joaquin fever, San Joaquin valley fever, valley fever
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More Definitions for coccidioidomycosis
coccidioidomycosis
noun
coc·cid·i·oi·do·my·co·sis
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variants:
also coccidiomycosis \ (ˌ)käk-ˌsid-ē-ō-(ˌ)mī-ˈkō-səs
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plural coccidioidomycoses\ -ˌsēz
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Medical Definition of coccidioidomycosis
: a disease of humans and domestic animals that is caused by inhalation of arthroconidia from either of two fungi of the genus Coccidioides (Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii) found in dry soils of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Central America and that may be asymptomatic or present as a mild to serious flu-like illness marked chiefly by fever, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, and pneumonia but sometimes becoming disseminated beyond the lungs especially to the skin, bones, joints, and meninges resulting in painful lesions, swollen joints, or meningitis
Early symptoms of the disease, which is clinically known as coccidioidomycosis, mimic the flu, with symptoms that include a cough, lethargy, and fever, most of those who become infected recover with little or no treatment and are subsequently immune. In about 2 percent to 3 percent of the cases, the disease spreads from the lungs and can attack the bones, liver, spleen, and skin.— Jesse McKinley, The Boston Globe, 30 Dec. 2007 Coccidioidomycosis is transmitted through inhalation of the sporelike arthroconidia, which is easily aerosolized when dry soil is disturbed. In Arizona, the peak incidence of disease occurs during the hot, dry summer months and again in October when a dry spell follows late-summer rains.— William A. Kormos et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 18 Nov. 2010
— called also cocci, San Joaquin fever, San Joaquin valley fever, valley fever