A Clinicopathological Categorization System for Clinical Research in Coccidioidomycosis

Paul Krogstad; George R Thompson 3rd; Arash Heidari; Rasha Kuran; Alexis V Stephens; Manish J Butte; Royce Johnson

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad597

A Clinicopathological Categorization System for Clinical Research in Coccidioidomycosis

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 29;10(12):ofad597. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad597. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Paul Krogstad^{1

2}, George R Thompson 3rd³, Arash Heidari^{4

5}, Rasha Kuran^{4

6}, Alexis V Stephens⁷, Manish J Butte^{1

8}, Royce Johnson^{4

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento California, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁵ Dignity Health, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Kern Medical, Bakersfield, California, USA.
⁷ Institute of Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁸ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

A wide array of clinical manifestations follow infection with Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii, ranging from asymptomatic infection to life-threatening pulmonary disease or extrapulmonary dissemination and meningitis. Epidemiological studies require consistent definitions of cases and their comparative clinical features. Understanding host and pathogen determinants of the severity of coccidioidomycosis also requires that specific clinical features (such as coccidioidal meningitis) and their overlap be precisely defined and quantified. Here we propose a system for categorization of outcomes of coccidioidomycosis in individuals who are not overtly immunocompromised that harmonizes clinical assessments during translational research of this increasingly common disease.

Keywords: coccidioidomycosis; dissemination; meningitis; pathology; valley fever.

Abstract

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