fungus in lungs

Question
QUESTION:     My rat got sick last month and had trouble with pneumonia coming and going till finally we put him down a few days ago.
The vet did an autopsy and results were in today saying she had a fungus in the lungs. What is that? I heard of myco but a fungus in the lungs? Does my vet know what he is talking about?

ANSWER: Hi Paulina,
First of all, let me tell you how sorry I am you lost your rattie. It can be really rough to make that decision to send them over the rainbow bridge.

I think your vet hit the nail on the head. Coccidioidomycosis (fungus in the lungs) is most commonly known as Valley Fever. It's seen often in dogs and livestock animals in dry areas where there is a lot of dust (Southwestern US, basically!), although any animal, including humans, can get it. How your rat got it, I don't know, although its possible. The fungus becomes airborne through (mostly agricultural) dust and is inhaled. It isn't contagious from one animal/person to another. Symptoms include chest pain, fever, cough, rash; sometimes it never shows any symptoms. There is no vaccine and the treatment, if caught early enough, is usually a long term antifungal medication regime. Valley Fever is not fatal for people, only 1% of those who develop Valley Fever die of it, and only a third of the people ever infected even notice they have it, however for a small animal its much more serious.

I'm sure this could have been a different type of fungus, but if I had to take a guess off the top of my head -- I'd say Valley Fever.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Janell. I should have told you before the autopsy report said the name of the illness was Pneumocystis, not what you said but I had never heard of this before which is why I asked the experts. I have since found out that it is caused from a weak immune system which is probably from my little rat having myco all the time and being on all sort of medication for a long time. her systme got so weak that she caught the fungus. Thank you for your help though.


Answer
Ahh, I see, yes, that would have been a different story -- thats basically a yeast infection. Treated with a barrage of medications doesn't help the system any, you're absolutely right. I hope you have a new rattie friend soon who doesn't see the vet so often!