Essays on Coccidioides

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS

Background: Clinical Description

The disease causing agent, Coccioides spp., causes a wide range of illness, but these illness are mostly determined by the hosts' defenses, inoculum size and possibly specific organism virulence. Most of the clinical infections (about 60%) show few or no respiratory symptoms. However, the rest 40% may show symptoms of illness that may either be acute or sub-acute. The illness could range from progressive pneumonia to flu-like conditions. Misdiagnosis usually occurs in self-limited community-acquired pneumonia. According to Saubolle, McKeller & Sussland (2007), only 29% of 56 people who had community-acquired pneumonia were diagnosed of coccidioidomycosis. The exact ...

PART 1

1. Spherule Spherule is the smaller spherical structure that lives inside the host. Such as, in the case Coccidioides immitis when it enters the host the fungal hyphae breaks into smaller spores and develop into spherules which release endospores through rupturing inside the host. 2. Pyogranulomatous Pyogranuloma is an inflammatory process that involves polymorphonuclear cell infiltration in the affected area of inflammation which can be manifested by the presence of macrophages, mononuclear cells, and lymphocytes. Such as Histoplasma capsulatum infections may result in Pyogranulomatous reactions inside dermal and subcutaneous tissues. 3. Differential Diagnosis Differential diagnosis is a medical term ...