What is valley fever and how would my pet get it?
Valley fever is a fungal infection. It's also known as coccidioidomycosis. It is found in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Mexico, but in very small portions of other states other than Arizona, where it's very widespread. Valley fever is a fungal infection caused by a fungus that lives in the clay layer of the soil. When it rains, it brings that fungus up to the dirt layer, where it's then allowed to be dispersed. So when we have these big dust storms, they will disperse valley fever. If we have a patient going around and sniffing all over the place, it can be contracted through ingestion or inhalation. It can go to the heart, the lungs, the brain, the spinal cord, the bones, and the liver. I've seen it in the testicles as well.
How do you diagnose valley fever in a dog or cat?
We will take some initial X-rays to see if we have any bone lesions or if we have any lung lesions or an increase in size of our tracheobronchial lymph nodes, which is a very common sign that we have valley fever. Then we send off a valley fever titer test, which basically tells us if we have a titer like 1:2, 1:4, up to like 1:56. I think I've seen, I might even have seen a 1:320. Basically, the titer itself involves taking your blood sample, diluting it, and checking for valley fever antibodies. The more dilutions that show valley fever titer, the stronger the immune response, and thus, probably a stronger valley fever infection.
How do you treat valley fever in dogs?
Valley fever is something that we can deactivate in the body; it's not something we necessarily kill. We use medications like fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, or ketoconazole. Sometimes, in the beginning, I'll use prednisone to reduce inflammation, which helps patients feel better right away. Other alternative therapies include using ozone to help kill valley fever and boost the immune system. I've also used acupuncture to boost the immune system, and you can use Chinese medicine known as Wei Qi booster. Typical valley fever will take about three months to a year to go away or to be able to get off medications. Over the course of that year, we might test two or three times, about every three to six months, depending on what we feel is needed.
Sometimes with ozone, we can get off valley fever meds a little sooner. It all depends on the individual. Using colostrum, especially local colostrum, can help get rid of valley fever better because we're taking in the immune system of animals that have possibly had valley fever, which provides a local immune system boost in the gut. Additionally, taking multivitamins and giving the body exactly what it needs to heal can benefit our immune system and biological processes. If we have everything needed to fight off an infection, we can typically fight it off. For neurological forms, they can take longer to treat. Sometimes we can never get off medication because it's in the brain, and our blood-brain barrier is hard to penetrate with medications. To prevent seizures, we will keep animals on valley fever meds permanently, sometimes reducing the dosage to twice a day or even Monday, Wednesday, Friday, to hold the infection at bay while minimizing medication damage to the body.
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