This can take the form of chronic lung infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting the tissues lining the brain, soft tissues, joints, and bone). Chronic infection is responsible for most of the morbidity and mortality. Chronic fibrocavitary disease is manifested by cough (sometimes productive of mucus), fevers, night sweats and weight loss. Osteomyelitis, including involvement of the spine, and meningitis may occur months to years after initial infection. Severe lung disease may develop in HIV-infected persons. Complications
Serious complications may occur in patients who have weakened immune systems, including severe pneumonia with respiratory failure and bronchopleural fistulas requiring resection, lung nodules, and possible disseminated form, where the infection spreads throughout the body. The disseminated form of coccidioidomycosis can devastate the body, causing skin ulcers, abscesses, bone lesions, swollen joints with severe pain, heart inflammation, urinary tract problems, and inflammation of the brains lining, which can lead to death. Cause
Rain starts the cycle of initial growth of the fungus underneath the soil. In soil (and in agar media), Coccidioides exist in filament form. It forms hyphae in both horizontal and vertical directions. Over a prolonged dry period, cells within hyphae degenerate to form alternating barrel-shaped cells (arthroconidia) which are light in weight and carried by air currents. This happens when the soil is disturbed, often by clearing trees, construction or  farming. As the population grows, so do all these activities, causing a potential cascade effect. The more land that is cleared and the more arid the soil, the riper the environment for Coccidioides.
The disease can disseminate throughout the dogs body, most commonly causing osteomyelitis (infection of the bone), which leads to lameness. Dissemination can cause other symptoms, depending on which organs are infected. If the fungus infects the heart or pericardium, it can cause heart failure and death.In cats, symptoms may include skin lesions, fever, and loss of appetite, with skin lesions being the most common.Other species in which Valley fever has been found include livestock such as cattle and horses; llamas; marine mammals, including sea otters; zoo animals such as monkeys and apes, kangaroos, tigers, etc. ; and wildlife native to the geographic area where the fungus is found, such as cougars, skunks, and javelinas. Additional images
In Popular Culture
Everything in Between, a 2022 Australian feature film, contains references to coccidioidomycosis. See also
Coccidioides
Coccidioides immitis
Coccidioides posadasii
Zygomycosis
Medical geology
List of cutaneous conditions
Thunderhead, a 1998 novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child which uses the fungus and illness as a central plot point. References
Further reading
Twarog M, Thompson GR (2015). "Coccidioidomycosis: Recent Updates". Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 36 (5): 746–755. doi:10.1055/s-0035-1562900. PMID 26398540. (Review). Stockamp NW, Thompson GR (2016). "Coccidioidomycosis". Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 30 (1): 229–246. doi:10.1016/j.idc.2015.10.008. PMID 26739609. (Review). External links

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page on coccidioidomycosis
Medline Plus Entry for coccidioidomycosis