ABSTRACT
Coccidioidomycosis results from inhaling spores of the fungus Coccidioides spp. in soil or airborne dust in endemic areas. We investigated an outbreak of coccidioidomycosis in a 12-person civilian construction crew that excavated soil during an underground pipe installation on Camp Roberts Military Base, California in October 2007. Ten (83.3%) workers developed symptoms of coccidioidomycosis; eight (66.7%) had serologically confirmed disease, seven had abnormal chest radiographs, and one developed disseminated infection; none used respiratory protection. A diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis in an eleventh worker followed his exposure to the outbreak site in 2008. Although episodic clusters of infections have occurred at Camp Roberts, the general area is not associated with the high disease rates found in California's San Joaquin Valley. Measures to minimize exposure to airborne spores during soil-disrupting activities should be taken before work begins in any coccidioides-endemic area, including regions with only historic evidence of disease activity.
Subject(s)
Coccidioides/isolation & purification , Coccidioidomycosis/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks , Adult , Antibodies, Fungal/blood , California/epidemiology , Coccidioidomycosis/diagnosis , Coccidioidomycosis/pathology , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/blood , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Male , Middle Aged , Radiography, Thoracic , Young AdultABSTRACT
The persistent binding of metabolites of hepatic carcinogen, 2-fluorenylacetamide, to glycogen and to DNA in a new population of liver cells, hyperplastic nodules, and to glycogen in liver cancer cells weeks to months after the carcinogen was removed from the animals' diet is indicated by spectrophotometric, chromatographic, and mass spectrographic data. This persistence of binding does not appear to occur in the nonhyperplastic or nonneoplastic liver surrounding the nodules or the cancer.
