Rapid real-time PCR (RT-PCR) can be performed in a community hospital setting to identify Coccidioides species using the new Becton Dickinson molecular instrument BD Max. Following sample preparation, DNA extraction and PCR were performed on the BD Max using the BD Max extraction kit ExK-DNA-1 test strip and a master mix prepared by BioGX (Birmingham, AL). Sample preparation took 2 h, and testi...

Coccidioidomycosis (valley fever) is a fungal infection found in the southwestern US, northern Mexico, and some places in central and South America. The fungi which cause it (Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii) are normally soil-dwelling but, if disturbed, become air-borne and infect the host when their spores are inhaled. It is thus natural to surmise that weather conditions which...

Objective: Coccidioidomycosis is a life threatening human respiratory disease caused by Original Article EPITOPE PREDICTION AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF PRA ANTIGEN OF COCCIDIOIDES PRASHANT SAXENA, JEMMY CHRISTY. H* Department of Bioinformatics, Sathyabama University,Chennai 119, India. Email: [email protected] Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii. As the incidence of symptomatic Coccidioidom...

Coccidioidomycosis (also known as San Joaquin Valley fever) is an occupational disease. Workers exposed to outdoor dust which contains spores of the soil-inhabiting fungus have a significantly increased risk of respiratory infection. In addition, people with compromised T-cell immunity, the elderly, and certain racial groups, particularly African-Americans and Filipinos, who live in regions of ...

The Ascomycete Onygenales order embraces a diverse group of mammalian pathogens, including the yeast-forming dimorphic fungal pathogens Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides spp. and Blastomyces dermatitidis, the dermatophytes Microsporum spp. and Trichopyton spp., the spherule-forming dimorphic fungal pathogens in the genus Coccidioides, and many nonpathogens. Although genomes for all of th...

BACKGROUND Coccidioidal meningitis (CM), a common cause of chronic meningitis in endemic area, is usually diagnosed by detection of anti-Coccidioides antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and findings may be negative in up to one-third of cases. CSF cultures and cytology are infrequently positive. Antigen detection has been used for the diagnosis of other forms of coccidioidomycosis and meni...