Valley Fever and Your Dog: Should You Be Concerned

Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis immitis) is a fungal disease that is predominantly found in California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. It is a fungus that, if inhaled, can lead to minor or major health problems. The most common symptoms with valley fever are elevated body temperature and coughing. However, there is a large list of other symptoms that people may not recognize as being directly related to Valley Fever. Take for instance someone who has severe pain in the right leg, the person affected may believe that it is an injury of some sort when in many cases, it is actually an infection of the bone due to the fungus Coccidioidomycosis. This fungus affects thousands of people every year. Should you be concerned that your dog may get the disease? You most certainly should be, especially if you live in one of the above states. Dogs are just as susceptible as we are to the fungal spore.

Things to look for in your dog would be coughing, lethargy, elevated temperature, limping, swelling of a particular extremity, vomiting, enlarge lymph nodes, etc. If you notice that your dog has any of these symptoms, you should schedule an appointment with your veterinarian for an evaluation of your dogs current symptoms. There are several things that your veterinarian may want to do and they are all part of the diagnostic regime. First off, blood work is going to be a must. In order to see if the body is attempting to fight off a foreign invader (i.e. Coccidioidomycosis), a full chemistry panel with complete blood count (CBC) is required. An elevated white blood cell count may be indicative that the body is, in fact ,fighting something off. Usually the veterinarian will send out a panel that tests chemistries, CBC and Coccidioidomycosis titer. The titer will come back usually in 5-7 working days of the blood draw. The titer will indicate at what level your dog has a Cocci. infection.

Radiographs are another option that you can take to confirm the diagnosis. However, sometimes Valley Fever can mimic cancer in the lungs due to its nodular presentation on a thoracic radiograph. Blood work is going to be the most important. Valley Fever can also have a similar presentation of an osteosarcoma (bone cancer) on a radiograph. Therefore, radiographic evaluation can sometimes be difficult to develop a definitive diagnosis. Valley Fever is treatable but it can be a long process before your dog is rid of the fungus. The fungus can also remain dormant after treatment and certain stressors in the future can set off a large infection. Therefore, your veterinarian may request that you return for blood work every 3 months for 2 visits and then yearly to make sure the infection has not returned.