An elderly woman is experiencing fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and a cough that occasionally brings up mucus containi
ng blood. She reports having visited family in rural New Mexico over the Labor Day weekend. A GMS-stained sample from her lungs shows the presence of large spherules. Which of the following is the most likely infecting agent? A) Coccidioides immitis
B) Blastomyces dermatitidis
C) Histoplasma capsulatum
D) Paracoccidioides brasiliensis
E) Trichophyton rubrum
Explanation: Coccidioides immitis can also be refered to as the valley fever, it is a fungal disease that occurs only in certain parts of the United States and South America., Example Mexico. It can be contracted by simply inhaling the fungal spores. Its Symptoms includes fever, chest pain, wheezing cough, blood in the sputum and weakness among other symptoms. From the question, since the elderly woman visited Mexico, and from the symptom and signs she showed, the fungus is Coccidioides immitis.
The elderly woman was experiencing fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and a cough that occasionally brings up mucus containing blood because she visited her family in rural New Mexico over the Labor Day weekend which is an endemic areas or environment.
Coccidioides immitis is an infectious that inhabits dry soil and is endemic in New Mexico, She inhaled the Fungal spores dispersed from the soil thereby causing her primary pulmonary infection.
This disease is transmitted by inhalation of airborne spores of C immitis and is most commonly acquired during outdoor activities.
A GMS-stained sample from her lungs shows the presence of large spherules which COCCIDIOIDES IMMITIS was the infecting agent.
