COCCIDIOIDES IMMITIS 



361 



modifications as the hair, nails, hooves, feathers, and horns may 

 be questioned. One might with equal reason indicate by the term 

 "caulophytes" those fungi involving plant stems, "fructophytes," 

 those involving fruits, and "phyllophytes," those attacking foliage! 



The account that follows is 

 intended as an introduction to 

 the mycologic features of some 

 of the better-known human 

 pathogens. The scope of the 

 field can be appreciated only 

 by consultation of certain vo- 

 luminous monographic studies, 

 such as those of Sabouraud 

 (1910), Brumpt (1935), and 

 Dodge (1935). It is also quite 

 apparent that all too little is as 

 yet known of the mycotic flora 

 of the surface of the normal 

 body and of the protective 

 mechanisms which the skin af- 

 fords to invasion by fungus 

 pathogens. 



COCCIDIOIDES IMMITIS 



Fig. 66. Coccidioides immitis. A. 

 Hypha from nutrient agar, tending 

 to be racket-shaped. B. Arthro- 

 spores from culture. C. Spores, one 

 of them germinating from globular 

 sporangium-like cell, which con- 

 tains numerous spores. (After 

 Moore.) 



This organism, w T hich causes 

 a highly fatal disease, was first 

 reported in Argentina but is 

 best known in California, Ari- 

 zona, and Texas. The disease 

 is commonly known in its acute 

 form as valley fever; the medi- 

 cal profession calls it coccidioidal granuloma. It has been re- 

 ported to occur among cattle, sheep, and dogs, but as yet there is 

 little evidence of transmission from animals to man or man to ani- 

 mals. Emmons (1942) reported that the pathogen occurs in ro- 

 dents, including deer mice, pocket mice, kangaroo rats, and ground 

 squirrels, in Arizona and also that he was able to isolate it from soil. 



The early history of coccidioidomycosis is summarized in an 

 account by Rixford, Dickson, and Beck (1931). The disease 



