Not sure when to ask for a valley fever test? It may not be accurate anyway.
“If you have valley fever,” [Dr. Royce] Johnson said, “the odds of that testing positive on the first visit is only 50 percent — even when it’s done at the health department.”
…The county Health Department also receives specimens from outside Kern County, so not all of the tests that are run at the Kern Public Health Lab are for Kern residents, making the statistics even less clear.
The fee for the valley fever skin test at Public Health is currently $76. The cost for the blood test is $65.
But if you want a valley fever blood test, you can’t simply walk into the Public Health lab and be tested. It has to be ordered by a health care provider. However, anyone who wants a valley fever skin test may make an appointment to receive it, but it may not be covered by insurance.
This article underscores one of the major problems in Valley Fever: The inability to get an accurate diagnosis, even in the sometimes rare cases where doctors are aware of the disease and consider the diagnosis.
Valley Fever Epidemic discusses problems with various testing methods and even shares medical research that compares the leading blood tests to compare their accuracy. Wise clinicians will often order more than one type of test for the patients they suspect have Valley Fever.