Gr. kokkis = little berry, and L. immitis = harsh
A soil fungus found in the western United States and parts of Mexico and Central and South America, Coccidioides was discovered in 1892 by AlejandroPosadas, a medical student, in an Argentinian soldier with widespread disease. Biopsy specimens revealed organisms that resembled the protozoan Coccidia (from the Greek kokkis, “little berry”). In 1896, Gilchrist and Rixford named the organism Coccidioides immitis . Ophüls and Moffitt proved that C. immitis was afungus rather than a protozoan in 1900. In 2002, C. immitis was divided into a second species, C. posadasii, after Alejandro Posadas.