Risk Factors for Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis, United States

Abstract

Of 150,000 new coccidioidomycosis infections that occur annually in the United States, ≈1% disseminate; one third of those cases are fatal. Immunocompromised hosts have higher rates of dissemination. We identified 8 patients with disseminated coccidioidomycosis who had defects in the interleukin-12/interferon-γ and STAT3 axes, indicating that these are critical host defense pathways.

Keywords

• Immunodeficiency
• Coccidioides
• coccidioidomycosis
• IL-12/IFN-γ
• race
• ethnicity