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Treatment

Clinical signs, such as seizures, pain, and coughing should be treated. Until clinical signs begin to subside, activity should be restricted. The dog should eat a high-quality diet to maintain body weight. If an organ is severely affected, surgical removal might be recommended. If the disease is widespread, aggressive anti-fungal therapy may be required for at least a year. The symptoms may be relieved with steroids and cough suppressants.

Living and Management

Your veterinarian will want to monitor antibodies every three to four months, or until they are in a range that can be considered normal. If your dog is not responding well to the therapy, a two to four hour post-pill drug level measurement test can determine how well the drug is being absorbed and give you and your veterinarian a better idea of what direction to go in.

This is one of the most severe and life-threatening of the fungal diseases, and the prognosis for your dog is guarded to grave. Many dogs will improve following oral anti-fungal medication. However, relapses are seen often, especially if therapy is not followed through to completion or is shortened. It is not typical for a dog to recover on its own without treatment, but it is possible for a dog to develop an immunity to the infection and recover from it.

Prevention

If the veterinarians in your area are seeing a lot of cases of coccidioidomycosis, it would be wise to avoid those areas, particularly after the rainy season and during dust storms.