Work-Related Diseases
Find information on occupational work-related diseases including diseases, category and group, synonyms, severity, latency, risk factors, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatments and options.
Coccidioidomycosis
Occupational Disease Coccidioidomycosis
Coccidioidomycosis Category Infection, Occupational
Coccidioidomycosis Severity
Subacute
Coccidioidomycosis Synonyms
Valley fever; San Joaquin fever; Desert fever; Coccidioidal granuloma; Coccidiioides immitis infection
Information on Coccidioidomycosis Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Screening and Imaging
Coccidioidomycosis usually begins with a flu-like respiratory illness. Erythema nodosum develops in about one fifth of clinically recognized cases. Primary infection 1) heals completely; 2) leaves residual fibrosis and a pulmonary nodule (sometimes calcified); or, 3) progresses to the disseminated form of the disease in about 1/1000 cases. Handling mold cultures in the laboratory is extremely hazardous. Skin tests for coccidiodin or spherulin become positive within three weeks while precipitin and complement fixation tests are usually positive within the first three months after symptoms begin. Skin tests are often negative in disseminated disease; serologic tests may be negative in the immunocompromised. Because of occupational exposure, males are more frequently affected than females. Coccidioidomycosis is not directly transmitted from animal to human or from human to human. There is a high prevalence of positive reactors in endemic areas. Recovery is usually followed by lifelong immunity, but reactivation can occur in those who become immunosuppressed therapeutically or by HIV infection. Negative reactors should not be recruited to endemic areas for road building or other dusty occupations. [Chin, p. 117-9] Leucocytosis (increased white blood cells) is a common finding. [Wallach, p. 671]
Coccidioidomycosis Latency
1-4 weeks
Coccidioidomycosis References
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/coccidioidomycosis_t.htm