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Coccidioidomycosis - acute pulmonary - Treatment

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.

Expectations (prognosis):

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

Fungus

Reviewed last on: 9/17/2008
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.

References

Davies SF, Knox KS, Serosi GA. Fungal infections. In: Mason RJ, Murray J, Broaddus VC, Nadel J, eds. Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2005; chap 34.

Galgiani JN. Coccidioides species. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2005:chap 264.

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