Coccidioidomycosis in armadillo hunters from the state of Ceará, Brazil

• Main Authors: Raimunda Sâmia Nogueira Brillhante, Renato Evando Moreira Filho, Marcos Fábio Gadelha Rocha, Débora de Souza Collares Maia Castelo-Branco, Maria Auxiliadora Bezerra Fechine, Rita Amanda Chaves de Lima, Yuri Vieira Cunha Picanço, Rossana de Aguiar Cordeiro, Zoilo Pires de Camargo, José Ajax Nogueira Queiroz, Roberto Wagner Bezerra de Araujo, Jacó Ricarte Lima de Mesquita, José Júlio Costa Sidrim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2012-09-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: pneumonia; coccidioidomycosis; micro-epidemic; diagnosis
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762012000600017&lng=en&tlng=en

Coccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis with a variable clinical presentation. Misdiagnosis of coccidioidomycosis as bacterial pneumopathy leads to inappropriate prescription of antibiotics and delayed diagnosis. This report describes an outbreak among armadillo hunters in northeastern Brazil in which an initial diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia was later confirmed as coccidioidomycosis caused by Coccidioides posadasii. Thus, this mycosis should be considered as an alternative diagnosis in patients reporting symptoms of pneumonia, even if these symptoms are only presented for a short period, who are from areas considered endemic for this disease.