Coccidioidomycosis (San Joaquin Valley fever) is a human respiratory disease caused by a soil-borne mold, and is recognized as an intransigent microbial infection by physicians who treat patients with the potentially life-threatening, disseminated form of this mycosis. Epidemiological studies based on surveys of skin-test reactivity of people who reside in the endemic regions of the Southwestern US have shown that at least 150,000 new infections occur annually. The clinical spectrum of coccidioidomycosis ranges from an asymptomatic insult to a severe pulmonary disease in which the pathogen may spread from the lungs to the skin, bones, brain and other body organs. Escalation of symptomatic infections and increased cost of long-term antifungal treatment warrant a concerted effort to develop a vaccine against coccidioidomycosis. This review examines recently reported strategies used to generate such a vaccine and summarizes current understanding of the nature of protective immunity to this formidable disease.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3620201 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12281-012-0105-y | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Updates in Coccidioidomycosis.
Infect Dis Clin North Am
December 2024
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA; UC-Davis Center for Valley Fever. Electronic address:
Coccidioidomycosis is the clinical disease caused by the dimorphic pathogenic fungi Coccidioides immitis and C posadasii. The number of clinically recognized coccidioidomycosis cases continues to increase yearly including in regions outside the traditional regions of endemicity. Following inhalation of Coccidioides spores, the course may range from asymptomatic exposure with resultant immunity, to a subacute pulmonary illness, to life-threatening disseminated infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrom soil to clinic: current advances in understanding and coccidioidomycosis.
Microbiol Mol Biol Rev
December 2024
The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
SUMMARY and are fungal pathogens that cause systemic mycoses and are prevalent in arid regions in the Americas. While mainly occurs in California and Washington, is widely distributed across North and South America. Both species induce coccidioidomycosis (San Joaquin Valley fever or, more commonly, Valley fever), with reported cases surging in the United States, notably in California and Arizona.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChallenges to Implementing a Vaccine for Coccidioidomycosis.
Open Forum Infect Dis
June 2024
Departments of Medicine and Immunobiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Article Synopsis
- - A vaccine for coccidioidomycosis is set to enter trials soon.
- - The authors propose four key questions that need answers before the vaccine can be widely used.
- - These questions focus on vaccination goals, target populations for vaccination, methods for assessing immunity and protection, and strategies to combat vaccine hesitancy.
The Host Response to Coccidioidomycosis.
J Fungi (Basel)
February 2024
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, San Diego School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
Coccidioidomycosis is an important fungal disease that is found in many desert regions of the western hemisphere. The inhaled organisms are highly pathogenic, but only half of infected, immunologically intact people develop symptomatic pneumonia; most symptomatic infections resolve spontaneously, although some resolve very slowly. Furthermore, second infections are very rare and natural immunity after infection is robust.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Recombinant Multivalent Vaccine (rCpa1) Induces Protection for C57BL/6 and HLA Transgenic Mice against Pulmonary Infection with Both Species of .
Vaccines (Basel)
January 2024
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
Coccidioidomycosis is caused by () and (), which have a 4-5% difference in their genomic sequences. There is an urgent need to develop a human vaccine against both species. A previously created recombinant antigen (rCpa1) that contains multiple peptides derived from isolate C735 is protective against the autologous isolate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!