Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever / Desert Fever)

A fungal infection of the lungs. Coccidioides spores, inhaled from dry desert soil, settle into your lung tissue and spread. Fever, cough, exhaustion, joint pain — sometimes mild, sometimes severe, sometimes chronic. Medically, coccidioidomycosis is an infectious disease with a clearly identifiable pathogen.

The psychosomatic perspective asks differently. Not: which fungus has invaded you? But: what has created within you a soil on which this fungus can thrive? Because millions of people inhale the same spores — and most do not fall ill. The question of the soil is not blame, but an invitation to look deeper than the pathogen.

A fungal infection of the lungs is a signal connected to breathing itself — to the question of how fully you allow yourself to be here.