Shocking 200% Rise in Fatal Valley Fever, Experts Raise Alarm!

California faces a sharp rise in Valley Fever cases
California faces a sharp rise in Valley Fever cases. Credit | Shutterstock

United States: Valley fever occurrences rose across California in 2024, according to data obtained from the California Department of Public Health, where some counties recorded annual rise surpassing 100 percent.

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It is valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis; this is a fatal respiratory disease that most often occurs when an individual breathes in certain specific types of fungi spores that are found in soil.

Still occasionally, this disease has been reported to affect the nervous system and cause meningitis or death.

While it is estimated that the disease strikes mainly in the state’s central zones, it has infected such locations as the northern Central Valley and southern California, sfgate.com reported.

In severe cases, the disease can infect the brain and cause meningitis or even death. Although most cases of the disease originate in the state’s central regions, cases have been reported in areas like the northern Central Valley and Southern California.

Spread of the disease

CDPH’s statewide Valley fever database pulled from cases through November 30 noted that cases of the disease have risen in Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Merced, Monterey, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanisslaus, Tulare and Ventures counties.

24 confirmed cases in 2023 compared to 50 this year. Monterey County had a total of 96 in 2023 and 299 this year, an increase of over 200 percent, sfgate.com reported.

Not only is Kern in the hot, dusty Central Valley, but it also has more agricultural laborers than any other county in California, and so has more cases by far. Kern County registered 3,768 of the state’s 11,076 cases.

In January, at least 19 people contracted Valley fever after attending the Lightning in a Bottle music festival held near Bakersfield, CDPH noted.

Of those people, eight were hospitalized.

Furthermore, those who are regularly exposed to dirt in certain areas where the disease is present are likely to catch it.

This factor has caused California’s farmworkers to be at a targeted risk of the disease.