Coccidioidomycosis in a rhesus monkey.

Coccidioidomycosis was diagnosed after necropsy of a young adult male rhesus monkey obtained from El Paso, Tx. Clinical signs were confined to the respiratory tract and included tachypnea and dyspnea. Radiographic findings included multiple air-filled cavities and evidence of severe diffuse pulmonary disease. Pathologic changes were confined to the respiratory tract and were representative of the chronic progressive pulmonary form of coccidioidomycosis. Unique features of this case were the massive involvement of the pulmonary parenchyma, the formation of multiple miltiloculated cavities that arose from conducting airways, and the metaplastic epithelial changes within the cavities. Histologic examination revealed numerous spherules characteristic of Coccididioides immitis but an absence of mycelial forms.