Coccidioides Direct PCR

Coccidioidomycoses continues to be an important illness in the central valley of California along with other arid areas in the southwestern United States, Mexico, South and Central Americas. This is an infection known to cause rather mild flu-like illness in most residents in the endemic areas, but causes significant pathology in those with compromised immune systems.  Forty percent of patients present to the physician's office or Emergency Room with pulmonary symptoms which are hard to distinguish from community acquired pneumonia. 
The usual culture method requires several days to grow in order to have adequate growth for identification. Especially for previously unidentified Coccidiomycoses patients, this delay leads to additional testing and treatment that could have been prevented if the cause of the illness had been determined days earlier. 
Cocci serology is helpful but has its limitations for diagnosing current, active infections.  Some immune suppressed individuals never develop a positive serologic test or may have a delayed increase in antibodies.
 
PCR Methods are very sensitive and provide a more timely testing methodology allowing a more rapid diagnosis and treatment protocol.