Free Republic

Medical professionals are warning the public about a dangerous fungal infection that is rapidly spreading across the country, particularly in the states of California and Arizona. There has been an increase in reported cases of rare Valley fever, and climate change may be to blame, according to doctors. Valley fever (also called coccidioidomycosis or “cocci”) is a disease caused by a fungus that grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California and the southwestern United States, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). “People and animals can get sick when they breathe in dust that...

ANTELOPE VALLEY [california] (CBSLA.com) — A 15-year-old girl was brought to Antelope Valley Hospital August 12 with a fever, cough and aches in her arms and legs. Bre Hughes was tested for cancer, lupus and tuberculosis, but the results all came back negative. Four hospitals and two weeks later, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles diagnosed the teen with Valley Fever, but it was too late. Hughes passed away August 31. Her family wants to know why several hospitals didn’t immediately recognize what she had as Valley Fever. “If they would have found out sooner would she still be here? That’s my...

COALINGA, Calif. — When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think flu, bronchitis or even the common cold. They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they are right. In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both widespread and lethal. At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including Arizona, where the health department...