Treatment
The acute disease usually goes away without treatment. Your health care provider may recommend bedrest and treatment of flu-like symptoms until your fever disappears.
In severe forms of the disease (for example, disseminated coccidioidomycosis), you may need antifungal treatment with amphotericin B, fluconazole, or itraconazole. The best length of treatment with these medications has not been determined.
Prognosis (Expectations)
The outlook in milder cases is usually good. Disseminated coccidioidomycosis can be serious, particularly in people with weakened immune systems from:
- Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Glucocorticoid medications (prednisone)
- Heart-lung (cardiopulmonary) conditions
- HIV
- Lymphoma
- Medications used to suppress the immune system in transplant patients
- Pregnancy (especially the first trimester)
- Type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Complications
- Chronic pulmonary coccidioidomycosis
- Disseminated coccidioidomycosis
Calling Your Health Care Provider
Call your health care provider if:
- You have symptoms of coccidioidomycosis
- Your symptoms get worse or do not improve with treatment
- You develop new symptoms
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Coccidioidomycosis – acute pulmonary : Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors
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Coccidioidomycosis – acute pulmonary : Symptoms & Signs, Diagnosis & Tests
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Coccidioidomycosis – acute pulmonary : Treatment
Review Date : 9/17/2008
Reviewed By : David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
