Coccidiodomycosis - Desert Fever

Coccidiodomycosis

“cock-see-die-o-doe-my-cosis”

“Desert Fever”

By

Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Numbers 21:1-9 “And [when] king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took [some] of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived”.

Now I know that this title is not at first easy to understand. It literally is a tongue twister to say, but that is the medical name for the condition which is also called desert fever or valley fever.

Let me explain a little about Desert Fever then I will bring it into this message. First and foremost Coccidiodomycosis / Desert Fever is a lung infection. What happens is a fungus in the dirt becomes airborne and these spores are inhaled the result of these fungus spores becomes Desert Fever. One of the things about Desert Fever is that it can affect anyone and some people it affects very seriously, the bad part about Desert Fever is that many people who get it never even know they have it, because they confuse it the flu, because the symptoms are so similar.

WATCH THIS:- because they are comfortable and feel they understand the flu and how they are to operate in it they feel as though they are alright and therefore try to do things their own way and some as a result even die from Desert Fever.

WATCH THIS:- It is a hard thing to stand before a body of people that are to be in covenant with God and tell them that something is missing in their walk with God because they feel as though they have it all together unaware that they have come under attack. Because people feel as though they understand it all and have it all together they become comfortable and are not aware of the condition they are actually in.

There is no known cure for Desert Fever most people are able to fight off this infection, but it depends upon their immune system. If their immune system is strong they recover, but if their immune system is weak they often develop what is referred to as a lung cavity.

Cavities in the lungs are formed by inflammation of lung tissue leading to the development of an abscess.

Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process. Inflammation is not a synonym for infection, even in cases where inflammation is caused by infection. Although infection is caused by a microorganism, inflammation is one of the responses of the organism to the pathogen. However, inflammation is a stereotyped response, and therefore it is considered as a mechanism of innate immunity, as compared to adaptive immunity, which is specific for each pathogen. Without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal.

An Abscess is a collection of pus (dead white blood cells) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by tissue in which pus resides due to an infectious process or foreign material. Understand it is the white blood cells that defend our bodies against infection and pus is an accumulation of white blood cells. When the abscess ruptures, the contents are let loose, leaving behind an air- and fluid-filled cavity.

The lungs principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream, and to release carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the atmosphere. In other words it takes in good air and gets rid of the bad air.