It's a fungus of the genus Coccidioides. Often the species is
Coccidioides immitis. You can get valley fever (aka
coccidioiomycosis) if you inhale it. People often get it after
inhaling dust kicked up during plowing, or other soil
disturbance.
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Cocci is the pleural word for coccus which is a single round
one-cell bacterium. It is an infection of the lungs caused by
inhaling spores of the fungus Coccidioides immitis.