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Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine logoLink to Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
. 2014 Feb 22;82(2):339–345. doi: 10.1093/jurban/jti057

Disseminated coccidioidomycosis in an immunocompetent person living in New York City

Amy Chuang 1,✉, Reeni Thomas 2, Robert S Hoffman 3
PMCID: PMC3456575  PMID: 15890762

Abstract

Coccidioidomycosis is a disease caused by Coccidioides immitis, a soilinhabiting fungus endemic to the desert climate of the southwestern United States and Central and South America. We report a case of disseminated coccidioidomycosis in a previously healthy person living in New York City, who was initially thought to have tuberculosis. The incidence of coccidioidomycosis has been increasing in both endemic and nonendemic areas, but diagnosis is often delayed or missed in nonendemic areas, resulting in extensive and unnecessary medical workup for other diseases or progression to serious disease. Therefore, clinicians should increase their awareness and consideration of this disease in patients with chronic systemic illness.

Keywords: Coccidioidomycosis, Diagnosis, Disseminated

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