Coccidioides

American  

[kok-sid-ee-oi-deez] / kɒkˌsɪd iˈɔɪ diz /

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.

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Etymology

Origin of Coccidioides

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

Example Sentences

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.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2024

Coccidioides, the fungus that causes cocci, thrives in rain-soaked soil.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2022

The microbes behind it, Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii, infect about 150,000 people in that area every year—and outside of the region the infection is barely known.

From Scientific American • May 18, 2021

Morgan Gorris, an earth systems scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, used climate-warming scenarios to project how much of the U.S. might become friendly territory for Coccidioides by the end of this century.

From Scientific American • May 18, 2021

Other fungi, such as Coccidioides immitis, which causes pneumonia when its spores are inhaled, thrive in the dry and sandy soil of the southwestern United States.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015