Sunday , April 28 2024

Just One Breath: States Skimp On Valley Fever Awareness

Valley fever infects more than 13,000 people annually in Arizona and California and kills more than 100. Yet the two states spend less on public awareness about the disease in one year than what the Bakersfield City School District spends on lunch milk for a month and less than what Pima County’s Parks and Recreation Department spent on janitorial supplies in 2016. Government-funded awareness campaigns can transform public behavior and lead to different approaches by doctors and nurses. When it comes to valley fever, though, state and local agencies in both locales have historically struggled with support for one of the most important aspects of combatting the disease: warning the public of its existence. Since the beginning of 2011, valley fever – which is caused by breathing in coccidioidal fungal spores that get swept into the air – has infected more than 75,000 people in California and Arizona, the two regions with the highest number of cases. California experienced a valley fever
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