Valley Fever, or Coccidiodomycosis

I have seen two dogs within the last two days, whom I believe have the disease called Valley Fever, or Coccidiodomycosis.  It is a deep fungal infection that any species can develop after exposure to the sporulating fungus.  The fungus lives in the desert, especially in our Sonoran Desert, and is kicked up by anything overturning the earth.  That means the wind blowing, dogs digging, any construction jobs……..all of which is probably always going on somewhere near you.  There are “hot spots” of the fungus around, but most of us don’t really know where those are in town.  You know where your “hot spot” is, if you, your family, and all your dogs, have always gotten valley fever.  It can be a devastating disease, if your immune system can’t throw it off.  The dogs are much more prone to getting the full blown disseminated type of disease, instead of the flu-like self-limiting disease that healthy people usually get.  The fungus can cause a cyclic fever, that comes and goes for a while, so your dog just doesn’t seem right, one day she’ll eat, the next day she won’t, or if the fever cycles on a 12 hour timetable, maybe they are good in the am, but not in the pm, or vice versa.  It can also go deeper into the body and cause a pneumonia of the lungs, or it can invade any tissue of the body.  Too often it invades the bone and causes a lysis, or eating away of the bone.  This is very painful, and requires immediate treatment.  The treatment can last from a minimum of 6 months, to a lifetime of treatment, depending upon the tissues attacked, and the immune system of the patient.  The disease is particularly potent for the newcomer to the area, because they do not have any immunity to the fungus at all — their body has never encountered anything like it before.

So if your dog is just ” not acting right”, maybe it’s time to have a valley fever test done.  The test can pick up the disease sometime after it has been in the body for at least 4 weeks.  The test picks up the antibodies that the body makes against the fungus, so the body has to be strong enough to make the antibodies, and it has to have time to make them, before the test will show a positive result.  Your vet will know how to interpret the tests.

If you are reading this and you have just visited our area with your dog and you are now back home, not in our Sonoran Desert, be certain to mention to your vet that you have been here, because Cocccidiodomycosis will not be high on their differential list of your dog’s  problem, without that information.