Canine Valley Fever Vaccine: Veterinary Highlights

Vaccinating can save lives, or it can hurt your dog. How do you know which is the case?

When evaluating the need for vaccinating, you need to consider the disease, how deadly or damaging it would or would not be, whether there is a successful treatment, and what might be your dog’s potential exposure. This particularly applies to what is referred to as non-core vaccines.

Canine Valley Fever Vaccine: Veterinary Highlights

Valley Fever vaccine

A vaccine to prevent Valley Fever would be a non-core vaccine.

Valley Fever is a fungal infection, also known as coccidioidomycosis. Fungal diseases are nasty and hard to treat. The treatment is lengthy; it can last 6-12 months. If the fungus invades the nervous system, they might need treatment for life. While the majority of dogs who are treated appropriately recover, it can be deadly.

Add to that living in an area where the disease is prevalent and considering vaccinating your dog suddenly starts making sense.

There has not been a vaccine against Valley Fever as of now. However, now a sub-unit vaccine seems to be in working.

…early animal-model results showing the vaccine-reduced fungal burden in mice.

Jenny Filbey, PhD

Is it going to work for dogs? Is it going to be worth it? It’s too early to tell but it is something to keep an eye on.

Related articles:
Alien Invasion: Your Dog And Infections

Source article:
New development in Valley fever vaccine for companion animals

Categories: Conditions • Infections • Valley fever

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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