title: Progress Toward a Human Vaccine Against Coccidioidomycosis.
abstract: Coccidioidomycosis (San Joaquin Valley fever) is a human respiratory disease caused by a soil-borne mold, and is recognized as an intransigent microbial infection by physicians who treat patients with the potentially life-threatening, disseminated form of this mycosis. Epidemiological studies based on surveys of skin-test reactivity of people who reside in the endemic regions of the Southwestern US have shown that at least 150,000 new infections occur annually. The clinical spectrum of coccidioidomycosis ranges from an asymptomatic insult to a severe pulmonary disease in which the pathogen may spread from the lungs to the skin, bones, brain and other body organs. Escalation of symptomatic infections and increased cost of long-term antifungal treatment warrant a concerted effort to develop a vaccine against coccidioidomycosis. This review examines recently reported strategies used to generate such a vaccine and summarizes current understanding of the nature of protective immunity to this formidable disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID), University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
authors.forename: Garry T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Brady J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hurtgen
authors.forename: Chiung-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hung
keywords: Adjuvants; CD4+ and CD8+ T cells; Coccidioides; Coccidioidomycosis; Epitope-based vaccine construct; Innate and adaptive immunity; Killed and live vaccines