Scientists make remarkable new discovery after studying fast-spreading disease: ‘Dogs are sentinels’

Dogs aren’t only man’s best friend, they can potentially offer humans greater insight into valley fever, a fungal infection plaguing the respiratory health of dogs and humans in the Western United States.

Valley fever, also known as Coccidioidomycosis, is a lung infection that occurs from breathing in the spores of the Coccidioides fungus.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fungus lives in moist soil conditions commonly found in the Western United States and parts of Mexico, and Central and South America. Digging into soil containing the fungus spores can cause them to become airborne, which can then enter the respiratory system and cause infection.

Dogs who like to dig into the soil are “more at risk of getting the disease,” per Sierra Sun Times. However, humans and other mammals, including cattle, horses, llamas and alpacas, and apes and monkeys, have also been found to contract the disease.

Among recorded valley fever cases in animals, though, dogs constitute the majority, according to the University of Arizona.

A group of scientists at the University of California, Davis studied how the disease manifests in dog populations in the United States, gathering data trends to extrapolate disease risk in humans.

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The study, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, is one of the largest scientific reviews on animal data for valley fever.

Blood test results of 834,899 dogs over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022 that were sourced from diagnostic laboratories that conducted animal blood tests for valley fever were analyzed.

From this data, the scientists were able to map where positive cases of valley fever occurred — 91.5% of cases occurred in Arizona, 3.7% in California, 2.6% in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, collectively, and 0.6% in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, combined. The remaining states within the country made up 1.3% of positive cases.

Observing positive cases in states where the disease has not yet become endemic, Jane Sykes, lead author of the UC Davis study, told Sierra Sun Times, “We should be closely watching those states because there could be under-recognition of the emerging fungal disease in humans.”

Exposure to the disease and occurring symptoms may vary from person to person, which include fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, rashes, and muscle or joint pain, but severe cases may cause long-term lung problems.

“Dogs are sentinels for human infections,” Sykes said, per Sierra Sun Times.

Valley fever may be exacerbated by drought conditions, which can lead to dry soil that can be picked up and dispersed across the land by strong winds, as a study in the journal Environmental International, shared by Science Direct, explained. The fungal spore particles are then airborne, posing a health risk to humans and dogs who may accidentally inhale them.

Intense heavy rainfall also creates the ideal conditions for the fungal spores to thrive, which tends to lead to bigger surges in positive cases when the rain returns, per UC San Diego.

Scientists have found that soil moisture across the globe has been depleting over decades. Along with drying soil, over 130 U.S. locations have experienced an increase in hourly rainfall intensity since 1970, creating high-risk flood zones.

Reducing national risk for valley fever includes increased awareness of the disease and hypervigilance in high-risk states. Studying dogs, as this study has found, may help humans better protect and defend against the disease.

Taking action to protect the environment from rising global temperatures and the changing climate conditions that come with it may help reduce the frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts and flooding, that increase the risk of disease.

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