Valley Fever: Dangerous Diseases Caused by Fungi Coccidioides Immitis

Kyleigh and Vandi Cooyar

Oakland California. Kyleigh and Vandi Cooyar live on the outskirts of Oakland California. They have been married now for 13 years. Vandi works for aircraft leasing company while Kyleigh stays at home with a couple's two children ten-year-old Ava and seven-year-old Callen. As a family they love spending time outdoors like to go to the beach or hiking.

One sunny day at July, Kyleigh and her children are enjoying the weekend getaway at a resort in Palm Springs. But she fell some pain in pelvic area she think maybe that time of the month and that would probably go away. However by the next morning the pain and swelling and Kyleigh stomach had increased.

When she was in the hotel room that she stomach was getting bigger. Sometimes happen when she have menstrual cycle. But when she drives on the way home condition get worsens. When she gets home Vandi see that her wife was not feeling well. He seen Kyleigh have a rash and suggest going to urgent care. But Kyleigh just take a rest. The next morning she's horrified by what she finds. She had a rash all over body. She was scared that something was seriously wrong

Vandi takes her wife to the nearest emergency room to discover the source of Kyleigh's abdominal swelling. Doctors carry out a full body exam. It looks like I was about five months pregnant. In fact one of the first thing doctor tested gynecological conditions but the pregnancy test is negative so doctors turn their attention to Kyleigh’s rash. They perform a biopsy to check for an allergic reaction. But results reveal nothing unusual. Doctors admit Kyleigh to the hospital for further testing. Because of the unusual swelling they scheduled for a colonoscopy, when the procedure starts, Kyleigh quickly senses something is wrong because the scope would not go far enough to be able to see anything.

Doctors are puzzled by what causing the swelling. Over the next two weeks they run average of tasks they get every kind of test like a cat’s scan, MRI blood test and other. But doctor still didn't have any result. It was a scary experience see Kyleigh completely hopeless, emotionally, being down. The fact that nobody knew what was happening to her.

Doctors decide to do an ultrasound of stomach area. They saw that there was a bit of fluid floating around in there. To find out what the fluid is, the doctors need sample. They brought out a huge long needle it's probably about 12 inches long. It was terrified. They get the yellow fluid for sample and a few days later the results come in. The doctor diagnosed that she get infection because VALLEY FEVER.

Valley fever is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides Immitis. Inside Kyleigh body, spores of the fungus invade her lungs when they grow and multiply. As an infection spread it that causes like fever and other flu symptoms

Dr. Dan Riskin (Biologist) says that one of the things that makes valley fever so dangerous its ability to evade the immune system using an amazing trick. Once they're in the body before it's warm up and then they change shape. This process is called dimorphism.

Dr. John Galgiani (UA Valey Fever Center for Excellence) has studied valley fever for the past three decades and knows the risks associated with the disease. In most cases we get over it the small percentage of people has complications and one of them is it straight through the bloodstream.

Doctors explained to Kyleigh this force of the fungus have infected her pelvic cavity. The disease has also spread your skin, triggering a rash. But doctors have more worrying for timely the fungus even spread to her brain causing a condition known as valley fever meningitis. The worst complication entries it essentially kills all people within 2 years

Kyleigh has just been diagnosed with valley fever. She's now facing a battle to save her life. To stop the spread of the disease, doctors prescribe a powerful recipe for the most serious infections. She needed to be treated aggressively and the drugs don't always work. Kyleigh takes the medication every day. And a week later Kyleigh is finally sent home. She was really happy to be back with her kids and husband.

The Coccidioides fungus is commonly found in the desert soils of the southwestern United States as well as parts especially in South America. If contaminated soil has disturbed, it’s can release fungal spores into the air. Anyone's who inhale them get infection.

For several months she slowly flashed back to what made him sick. Highly suspect she taught valley fever during a family trip in central California. At the time she was traveling through the San Joaquin Valley the area where the disease was first identified. She got stopped on the freeway because roadwork. It was really dusty. She get stop for about an hour and a half. All you have to do is breathe and you can get valley fever.

Kyleigh has undergone multiple hospitalizations to treat the illness and today for health has dramatically improved. Unfortunately the treatments don't kill the fungus but to prevent the infection from attorney just take a mild form of the antifungal medication for the rest of she life.

It's very difficult to avoid inhaling the calculated fungus. The CDC recommends that people who are at risk for severe valley fever like people with weakened immune systems to avoid the area endemic regions.