The spread of infection from the lungs to other parts of the body is called dissemination. Dissemination is the spread of the fungal infection from the lungs to other parts of the body. The most common sites of dissemination in Valley Fever are skin, bones, joints and brain meninges. Cocci meningitis is the most lethal. While there is no racial or gender differences in susceptibility or who contracts the primary infection, there are differences in risk of dissemination.
Men have a higher rate of dissemination than women.
African Americans and Filipinos have several times higher rate of dissemination in the U.S. Native Americans, Hispanics and Asians may also have a higher rate of dissemination than the general public. Spherules are the form that the fungus takes in tissue. In nature the fungus grows in soil and appears in the mycelial form similar to bread mould. The arthroconidia are extremely small and light and may be carried many miles by the wind. Fifteen trillion of the arthroconidia would fit into a cubic inch.