Pulmonary Coccidioidomycosis: Clinical Features

Coccidioidomycosis - Clinical Presentation: Nearly all human infections begin in the lungs with the inhalation of airborne arthroconidia. Approximately 60% of patients have mild or no symptoms. The remaining 40% experience a self-limited pneumonia which often resolves without treatment. In the endemic regions, coccidioidal pneumonia accounts for as many as 30% of community-acquired pneumonias. The patients develop flu-like symptoms within 1 to 3 weeks after exposure. They present with fatigue, malaise, headaches, transient fever, night sweats, nonproductive cough, breathlessness, arthralgias, and skin rash. Despite protracted morbidity, most patients eventually recover, regardless of whether they received antifungal treatment.

The image shows fibrocaseous granulomas in a wedge resection from a patient with pulmonary coccidioidomycosis.