Dogs Could Help Predict Valley Fever Spread in Humans
One of the Largest Animal Studies Finds Strong Correlation Between Occurrence of Dog and Human Disease
Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is caused by a fungus that thrives in moist soils and becomes airborne during drought. Its spores are easily inhaled, leading to infection. Climate change is creating the perfect conditions for it in the Western United States, with increasing heavy rains followed by prolonged drought. A new study by University of California, Davis, researchers shows that dogs, who are also susceptible to the disease, can help us understand its spread.
“Dogs are sentinels for human infections,” said lead author Jane Sykes, professor of small animal internal medicine at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “They can help us understand not just the epidemiology of the disease but they’re also models to help us understand the disease in people.”
Valley fever is common in animals, especially dogs that dig in dirt. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, examined nearly 835,000 blood antibody tests from dogs that had been tested for the infection across the country between 2012 and 2022. Nearly 40% of them tested positive.