Symptoms & Signs
- Chronic cough
- Blood-tinged sputum
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Fever
- Shortness of breath
Other symptoms of this disease include:
- Wheezing
- Excess sweating
- Joint stiffness
- Chest pain
- Headache
Diagnosis & Tests
- Sputum KOH test
- Sputum fungal culture
- Coccidioides complement fixation titer to measure antibodies to the fungus in the blood
- CBC with differential
- Chest x-ray
- Chest CT scan
- Coccidioidin skin test
- Bronchoscopy (possibly with transbronchial biopsy)
- Open lung biopsy
- Mediastinoscopy
- Spinal tap (lumbar puncture) to rule out meningitis
ment
Review Date : 12/1/2009
Reviewed By : David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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