Mycology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Mycology, including details on fungi, diseases, identification, microscopy.

Coccidioidal pericarditis: a rapid presumptive diagnosis by an in-house antigen confirmed by mycological and molecular methods.

Brilhante RS, Cordeiro RA, Rocha MF, Fechine MA, Furtado FM, Nagao-Dias AT, Camargo ZP, Sidrim JJ

Specialized Medical Mycology Center, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

Coccidioidal pericarditis is a condition found in approximately 1-5% of patients infected by Coccidioides species. It is associated with widely diverse clinical symptoms. This paper reports a case of coccidioidal pericarditis diagnosed by an in-house Coccidioides posadasii antigen and confirmed with mycological and molecular methods. From February to September 2005, the patient suffered from fever, weight loss, a non-productive cough, thoracic pain and tachycardia. He received a positive diagnosis of coccidioidal pericarditis only in October 2005. The macromorphological examination of the culture showed a whitish felt-like colony, which became brownish with age. Preparations in lactophenol cotton blue stain showed hyaline septate hyphae with fragmentation and thin arthroconidia-like structures. Pericardial fluid and sera samples were positive for Coccidioides antibodies by immunodiffusion and ELISA with a C. posadasii in-house antigen preparation. The C. posadasii identification was confirmed by nested PCR of the antigen 2/proline-rich antigen (Ag2/PRA) encoding gene.

Published 23 September 2008 in J Med Microbiol, 57: 1288-92.
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