Symptoms of Valley Fever
In most cases, there are symptoms of valley fever. However, if you do have symptoms, they might include:
- Fever [3]
- Night sweats
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Headache
- Muscle aches and joint pain
- Rash (erythema nodosum)
The combination of fever, nodules under the skin, and joint stiffness at the same time is called desert rheumatism.
After a few weeks or months, symptoms of Valley fever typically go away on their own.
Only a small percentage of people experience lung disease that is persistent. Valley fever is usually replaced by chronic pulmonary coccidioidomycosis if it persists for an extended period of time. This could show no symptoms or may result in signs like:
- Loss of weight
- Cough that is persistent.
- Coughing up blood (hemoptysis).
- Ache in the chest.
- Dyspnea, or shortness of breath. [4]