Valley Fever is primarily a disease of the lungs caused by the fungus Coccidioides species, which grows in soils in areas of low rainfall, high summer temperatures and moderate winter temperatures.

How it spreads:

1. The fungal spores become airborne when the soil is disturbed by winds, construction, farming and other activities.
2. Infection occurs when a spore is inhaled. Within the lung, the spore changes into a larger, multi-cellular structure called a spherule.
3. The spherule grows and bursts, releasing endospores which develop into more spherules. Valley Fever symptoms generally occur within three weeks of exposure. Valley Fever is not a "contagious" disease, meaning it is not passed from person to person. Second infections are rare.
4. In patients with serious complications from the disease and those with immuno-suppression (including AIDS and organ transplants), diagnosis and treatment is often complicated and expensive and current therapy is sometimes inadequate to cure patients.
5. Additionally, many visitors from nonendemic also develop Valley Fever after returning home from the Southwest, and their physicians may not be familiar with the disease.