Infectious Disease Specialists in Arizona

Arizona accounts for roughly two-thirds of all reported coccidioidomycosis cases in the United States each year. For infectious disease specialists practicing here, Valley Fever is not a textbook curiosity. It is a near-daily clinical encounter, and the diagnostic and treatment nuance required, distinguishing pulmonary coccidioidomycosis from tuberculosis, lung cancer, or sarcoidosis on imaging, recognizing dissemination to bone, skin, or meninges, selecting between fluconazole and amphotericin regimens, goes far beyond what ID fellows training outside the Southwest encounter during their residencies. The infectious disease landscape in Arizona extends well beyond a single organism. The state's position on the U.S.-Mexico border brings cross-border health surveillance responsibilities that touch tuberculosis case management, sexually transmitted infection screening, and increasingly, antibiotic-resistant organisms circulating in the healthcare systems of northern Mexico. Patients in Nogales, Douglas, and Yuma frequently receive care on both sides of the border, and ID physicians in southern Arizona coordinate with Mexican counterparts to ensure treatment continuity for TB and HIV cases that span both countries. Northern Arizona introduces a different set of pathogens. Tick-borne relapsing fever, caused by Borrelia hermsii and carried by soft-bodied Ornithodoros ticks that inhabit rodent-infested cabins and structures in high-elevation forests, has caused cluster outbreaks in the Grand Canyon's South Rim lodges and in rustic cabins around Flagstaff. The infection responds to antibiotics but is frequently misdiagnosed initially because the relapsing fever pattern is unfamiliar to providers outside endemic areas. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, transmitted by the brown dog tick, has also been documented in tribal communities in eastern Arizona with fatality rates that make early antibiotic initiation critical.