[Clinical problems in medical mycology: problem number 45]

A 43 year-old diabetic woman, who suffered chronic cough and brown expectoration, is presented in this clinical problem. X-ray exam and CT thorax scan showed a cavitary lung lesion, located at the upper field of the left lung. This lesion had 5 cm in diameter, with a thick wall and a spherical shadow inside. The diagnosis of chronic cavitary pulmonary coccidioidomycosis was based on the isolation of Coccidioides sp. from cultures of expectoration and bronchoalveolar lavage, and the detection of specific antibodies in immunodiffusion test and counterimmunoelectrophoresis with coccidiodin. Her diabetes was not well controlled. She was treated with intravenous amphotericin B and oral itraconazole, with good clinical response; after four months of treatment the patient abandoned clinical controls. We suppose that the patient presented a coccidioidal fungus ball, inside a chronic cavitary lesion due to pulmonary coccidiodomycosis. She came from an endemic zone of coccidioidomycosis in the Northwest of the Argentine Republic (Catamarca Province).