Molecular identification of Coccidioides immitis in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from a Colombian patient

Abstract

Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii are the etiologic agents of coccidioidomycosis, an endemic fungal disease of the Americas. In Colombia, this mycosis is uncommon, and only five cases, two of them imported, have been documented. By means of DNA sequencing, C. immitis was identified in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissues samples from the 5th Colombian patient diagnosed in 1997. The patient was born in Pinto, Department of Magdalena, and had never visited other geographic regions, a reason to consider that the mycosis had been acquired locally. This species is primarily found in California although it has been occasionally reported in other geographic areas such as Mexico and Brazil. This is the first indigenous report of C. immitis-associated coccidioidomycosis in a Colombian patient.