Pets
can catch Valley Fever
by
Kathleen Stinson
NORTH
VALLEY – Pet owners new to the area may not know that
their pets can contract Valley Fever as easily as humans.
“We’re
seeing a lot more Valley Fever cases in dogs lately–possibly
due to all the construction in the Valley releasing more
spores,” said Dr. Ed Cohen, veterinarian, Anthem Pet Medical
Center.
Many
animals are susceptible to the disease, including dogs,
horses, cattle, sheep, burros, coyotes,
rodents, bats and snakes, according to the Valley Fever
Center for Excellence Web site.
“In
years gone by, (a pet) having Valley Fever was a death
sentence,” said Dr. Cliff Faver, veterinarian and owner
of Animal Health Services, Cave Creek.
However,
with the new treatment, fluconazole or diflucan, the death
rate is about three in every 150 cases, Faver wrote in
a recent article.
Valley
Fever is an infection in the lungs caused by a fungus
which grows in the soil in the southern and central portions
of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and southern
portions
of Nevada and Utah, as stated on the VFCE Web site. The
infection is contracted by inhaling
airborne spores carried in dust particles from the soil
by the wind when the desert soil is disturbed.
“Mainly
dogs are affected by it–occasionally cats–but cats are
better able to fight it off,” said Nikki Binns, assistant
manager of Animal Health Services.
Often
the infection starts as a cough, then the spores can attach
to different parts of the animal’s body, Binns said. The
spores can attach to the brain and affect neurological
functions or the bones, leaving the animal limping.
The
most common form of Valley Fever mimics flu‑like
symptoms–coughing, loss of appetite, lethargy and intermittent
fevers, Faver wrote.
“Horses
are fairly resistant to Valley Fever, but we do see a
few cases,” said Dr. Ross Rich, veterinarian with Cave
Creek Equine Surgical Center. Among the effects of the
disease are the
development of chronic pneumonia or draining in wounds
that won’t heal, which are treatable
through anti‑fungals.
The
infection can be diagnosed with a blood test, but screening
these antibodies can be difficult in the early stages
of the infection,
Faver said. Anyone who lives in the lower Sonoran Desert
is exposed to Valley Fever.
“The
most important thing is to keep your animal from stress–if
the immune system is intact, the pet is not going to have
problems with Valley Fever,” Faver said.
He
said the number of cases varies from year to year. Rainy
springs followed by hot temperatures are ideal conditions
for the spores to grow. Usually it takes six months to
a year following these conditions for cases to manifest.
Because
Valley Fever is a fungus, it does not respond to medicine
as quickly as bacterial diseases. The average length of
treatment lasts from four months to several years. In
the past, the medicine was costly, but pharmacies are
now able to formulate medicines to treat animals more
inexpensively.
