Each year, the fungal disease valley fever infects tens of thousands of people in the American Southwest. Studies suggest infection rates could be even higher among dogs, however, and researchers in Arizona are now announcing progress on a canine valley fever vaccine. Valley fever is caused by a fungus that …
Read More »How COVID-19 Has Complicated The Response To Valley Fever – Virus Update For Mar. 12
Even though COVID-19 has been the dominant public health threat for a year, first with a summer surge, then a winter surge, and now with the rollout of much-anticipated vaccines, other public health problems haven’t just disappeared. One long-standing health concern in the San Joaquin Valley is valley fever, a …
Read More »‘A Fever In The Dust’ – Science Friday Spotlights Valley Fever
For their episode on April 24, 2020, producers of the WNYC Studios show Science Friday turned their focus to the fungal disease valley fever – its origins and effects on the body, as well as burgeoning research and hope for new treatments. The show features interviews with experts and others …
Read More »Valley Fever: A Terror In The Body, A ‘Wimp’ In The Soil
The following is an excerpt of a segment about the fungal disease valley fever from the April 24, 2020 episode of the NPR show Science Friday . Read the rest of the piece here , and hear the full Science Friday segment including an interview with FM89’s Kerry Klein here …
Read More »‘A Fever In The Dust’ – NPR’s Science Friday Spotlights Valley Fever
For their episode on April 24, 2020, producers of the show Science Friday turned their focus to the fungal disease valley fever – its origins and effects on the body, as well as burgeoning research and hope for new treatments. The show features interviews with experts and others affected by …
Read More »New Valley Fever Run In Taft Brings Disease Awareness To Rural Kern County
Preliminary state data suggest nearly 8,700 Californians were diagnosed with valley fever in 2019, which would be a record high. The state’s highest case rate is consistently reported in Kern County where, this past weekend, one rural town held its first race to raise disease awareness. Around 50 or so …
Read More »‘Eureka Moment’ In Valley Fever Case Paves Way For New Research, Treatment Options
Hundreds of children and their families cycle in and out of UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital each week, and yet Dr. Manish Butte still remembers the day almost two years ago when he met a young boy who could barely walk or talk and needed a feeding tube to eat. “We …
Read More »Momentum Builds Around Valley Fever Research With Funding Boosts
Researchers have been trying to understand valley fever for decades, but the playing field remained small until recently. “When I started in valley fever research just six or seven years ago, the field was largely full of professors and senior clinicians and really didn’t have many of the junior faculty …
Read More »Inmates Who Contracted Valley Fever In California Prisons Petition U.S. Supreme Court For Relief
For more than a decade, lawsuits have been piling up against California from inmates who contracted the fungal disease valley fever while incarcerated in state prison . Most plaintiffs have lost. Now, many of them are turning to a higher court. A group of 117 currently and formerly incarcerated people …
Read More »Much-Anticipated Valley Fever Clinical Trial Fails Due To Lack Of Enrollment
In 2018, Kern County’s caseload of the fungal disease valley fever rose for the fourth year in a row , health officials recently announced. Simultaneously, a much-anticipated clinical trial related to the disease failed. It was called the FLEET study, and it examined the effectiveness of early treatment on the …
Read More »Kern County’s Valley Fever Cases Rise For Fourth Year In A Row
Kern County has long been California’s epicenter for the fungal disease valley fever, and new data released Wednesday shows more people are contracting it. The county’s valley fever caseload in 2018 was its second highest ever recorded, said Kern County Public Health Services Director Matt Constantine during a press conference …
Read More »Valley Fever Medication Poses Added Risk For Pregnant Women
When Jennine Ochoa became pregnant at the end of 2017, she didn’t know what to expect. At 42, she’d waited longer than most women to start a family. But she said her first five months were easy. “I had no morning sickness, nothing,” she said. “It was completely uneventful until …
Read More »Governor Brown Signs Two Valley Fever Bills Into Law
Governor Brown has signed into law two bills related to the disease valley fever, both written by Kern County Assemblymember Rudy Salas. The laws both aim to streamline the disease’s reporting guidelines, which until now have been inconsistent over time and among health agencies throughout the state. One of the …
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