Of 150,000 new coccidioidomycosis infections that occur annually in the United States, ≈1% disseminate; one third of those cases are fatal. Immunocompromised hosts have higher rates of dissemination. We identified 8 patients with disseminated coccidioidomycosis who had defects in the interleukin-12/interferon-γ and STAT3 axes, indicating that these are critical host defense pathways.
Keywords: Coccidioides; IL-12/IFN-γ; Immunodeficiency; United States; coccidioidomycosis; disseminated coccidioidomycosis; ethnicity; fungi; immunosuppression; interferon; interleukin-12; race.