Salinas, California - The deadly fungus spreads quietly in western soil. Now it is threatening people far beyond the dusty deserts and valleys where it is likely that it was born.
Valley fever, a disease caused by cocciodioid bacteria, was once concentrated in the southwestern United States. In times of increasingly extreme weather, the disease thrives in areas once considered cool and mild.
Advances the peak of the fall and winter seasons of illness, health officials are rushing to raise awareness of easily aged signs and symptoms before the situation gets worse.
"I don't know if we can prevent people from consuming valley fever," said Christie Mickey, assistant director of public health in Monterey County, California, who once had only a few dozen cases each year, now an average of hundreds of agricultural areas along the Coarts. "It's very difficult to avoid dust in our environment, but what we don't want is for people to really get sick from valley fever."
In 2024, there were nearly 12,500 cases across California. State Health Data. Within a quarter century, the state reported just 1,000 cases.
The disease shows growth risks not only for agricultural workers accustomed to the soil, but also for those who move to new suburban developments and spend weekends on golf trips in areas with fungi in place.
People exposed to fungi may not get valley fever, it is also called coccidioidomycosis. However, people who suffer from the disease can develop symptoms of pneumonia that last longer than a few weeks, which typically appears one to three weeks after breathing the pneumonia spores. Symptoms include:
A small number of people who get valley fever from 5% to 10% will develop serious or long-term complications in the lungs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. People with weakened immune systems, pregnant women, diabetics, blacks and Filipinos High risk of severe illness.
Approximately 1% of infected people spread to other parts of the body, including the brain, bones and other organs.
Single valley fever infections usually provide lifelong immunity, but there is no vaccine for it. Antifungal drugs According to the CDC, these more serious consequences can be prevented. Therefore, it is extremely important not to overlook the diagnosis.
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Drought creates spores that will infect, according to Dr. George Thompson, co-director of the University of California, Davis Valley Fever Center. Thompson said the fungus rises into the air and then inhales spores. Even a single spores can cause illness, he said.
It already extends beyond California's interior San Joaquin Valley. The San Joaquin Valley is known for its illness.
The projection will be displayed The spread of volley fever The drought has increased and temperatures have risen, so it's well beyond the southwest. The fungus already infect people as north as Washington and Oregon, and by the end of the century, research has been carried out. Fungi are expected to flourish Cross the Canadian border and head to the Midwest.
"I don't really recognize it," said Dana Bruckner, 48, a registered nurse. The dog got valley feverfrom the backyard of Bakersfield, the San Joaquin Valley city that has perhaps the most cases in California.
She and colleague Bianca Torres lead monthly Zoom calls on behalf of the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield.
Their goal is to teach patients and others who may be mistaken for influenza or bronchitis, said Torres, a program research coordinator who was hospitalized for the illness when his father was a child. This will allow people to talk to doctors about the possibility of valley fever.
"It's not diagnosed," Torres said the antibiotic rounds were ineffective. "It's also important to defend yourself."
Climate changes were particularly pronounced along California's central coast. There, the fertile valleys have long been saved by the cool breeze from the Pacific Ocean.
A row of crops of strawberries and lush greens line up in the Salinas Valley, with mists engulfed daily between the two mountain ranges John Steinbeck detailed in his typical American novel.
Today, it is where the valley fever took its footing. Provisional California Health Data Monterey County, where Salinas Valley is located, shows that it has experienced the biggest increase in valley fever cases county-by-county this year.
County Health Department Michie warns that early state public health data (348 cases this year) shows a higher case count in around 275 cases than local data. Still, she said she was on track to surpass previous year's record in 358 cases.
"If we have pneumonia, we think about it in advance," said Dr. Allen Radner, an infectious disease expert at Salinas Valley Health.
Twenty years ago, Radner saw one or two cases a month. Currently, during the peak fall infection season, he regularly sees three or four cases a day.
Typically, the most at risk are those who are exposed to the soil when disturbed, such as farm workers, construction workers, and prison prisoners who are imprisoned in arid, remote areas.
Bill Perske does not fit into any of these categories. The 39-year-old butcher had never heard of the disease when he developed prolonged cough, fever and lung problems in late 2023.
Near the end of 2024, he was blind for about 10 minutes and suffered a seizure in the ambulance.
MRI showed he had hydrocephalus, or a build-up of fluid in his brain. After a spinal snake, he was eventually diagnosed with illness.
He is still experiencing fluid buildup in his brain and is set up to install a port to help drain.
With Valley Fever's growth, Perske said more people should notice the disease before it's too late.
"If not, you can just die," he said. "You'll be written down as statistics."