Fw: Valley fever and remicade (from alt.support.arthritis newsgroup)

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Valley fever and remicade

Those of you in Arizona listen Up! From the Rheumatology Web:Fungal Infections in Patients on Infliximab - Another member of our Editorial Board, Gluck, M.D., was a participant with colleagues Bergstrom, Yocum, et al, in Arizona in a paper describing a series of patients from two practices who developed coccidiomycosis during infliximab therapy.

While it is known that patients on TNF inhibitors are at increased risk for opportunistic infections, especially TB, this work calls attention to the increased risk for potentially fatal fungal infections.

"In Arizona, most rheumatologists now obtain coccidiomycosis serologies before starting patients on infliximab," said Dr. Gluck. "This type of caution should be observed in any area with endemic fungal infections." Further, he noted that most of these patients seem to be experiencing a reactivation of pre- existing infections, not disease de novo.

(Abstract #365)