Valley Fever Hits Thousands in Parched Farm Regions Gosia Wozniacka - Associated Press
go to original May 6, 2013

Valley Fever survivor Berenice Parra was a young woman when she came down with illness. She tells her story of being diagnosed, battling through the worst symptoms and living with Valley Fever today. (bakotube)

California and federal public health officials say valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people around the nation, has been on the rise as warming climates and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it.

The fever has hit California's agricultural heartland particularly hard in recent years, with incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease - which is prevalent in arid regions of the United States, Mexico, Central and South America - can be contracted by simply breathing in fungus-laced spores from dust disturbed by wind as well as human or animal activity.

The fungus is sensitive to environmental changes, experts say, and a hotter, drier climate has increased dust carrying the spores.

"Research has shown that when soil is dry and it is windy, more spores are likely to become airborne in endemic areas," said Dr. Gil Chavez, Deputy Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health.

... Nationwide, the number of valley fever cases rose by more than 850 percent from 1998 through 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, there were more than 20,400, with most cases reported in California and Arizona.

Read the rest at The Independent

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