Coccidioides

[kok-sid-ee-oi-deez]

noun

Mycology.

1. a genus of fungi, occurring as both mold and yeast, with species especially present in the soil of the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America: Breathing in their microscopic spores can cause coccidioidomycosis.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Coccidioides¹

First recorded in 1900–05; coccidi(um) ( def. ) + New Latin -oīdēs, from Greek -oeidēs -oid ( def. )

Example Sentences

Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is a lung infection that people get when they breathe in spores of the fungus, coccidioides, that lives in dry soil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Bruhn said she hadn’t been warned beforehand that Kern County and Buena Vista Lake are endemic for coccidioides — the fungus that causes the disease.

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Valley fever is an infectious disease caused by the coccidioides fungus, which grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California.

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English said little attention has yet been paid to his group’s discovery on the site of the soil-dwelling fungus Coccidioides, which causes valley fever.

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After a heavy rain, the fast-growing Coccidioides spreads through the wet soil like mold through bread.

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