ABSTRACT
This systemic mycosis was first reported in 1892 by Alejandro Posadas and Roberto Wernicke in Buenos Aires. These authors described the infection in Domingo Escurra, a soldier from the Gran Chaco in Argentina. In 1894 in the United States, Rixford and Gilchrist described a similar case in California in a Portuguese worker, observing the organism which corresponded to the etiological agent and thought, as did Posadas, that it was a case of Coccidia and calling the organism Coccidioides immitis. Ophls and Moffitt in 1900 defined the etiology by culturing the fungus and describing its characteristics. Blacks, Philippines, and Hispanics are more prone to develop the disseminated systemic disease than people of Caucasian origin and its incidence increases in immunosuppressed patients whether due to another illness such as AIDS, cancer or systemic use of corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive drugs.
