Porte, LorenaValdivieso, FranciscaWilmes, DunjaThompson, LuisMunita, JoséVarela, CarmenRickerts, VolkerWeitzel, ThomasGaete, PDíaz, MCAlliende, R2020-09-072020-09-072019-08Porte L, Valdivieso F, Wilmes D, et al. Laboratory exposure to Coccidioides: lessons learnt in a non-endemic country. J Hosp Infect. 2019;102(4):461-464. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2019.03.006https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2019.03.006http://hdl.handle.net/11447/3416Coccidioides is a primary pathogenic fungus, which infects humans through highly infectious arthroconidia, causing substantial morbidity including life-threatening disseminated infections. Due to the low infectious dose, laboratory personnel might become infected during diagnostic procedures. Accordingly, coccidioidomycosis is reported as the most frequent laboratory-acquired systemic mycosis worldwide. This risk is aggravated in non-endemic countries, where the diagnosis may not be suspected. We report on an inadvertent exposure of 44 persons to Coccidioides posadasii in a clinical microbiology laboratory in Chile, the measures of containment after rapid diagnosis with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and the lessons learnt in a non-endemic setting.enCoccidioides posadasiiDiagnosisLaboratory exposureMALDI-TOF mass spectrometryCoccidioidomycosisArticle