California is heading for another record year for cases of valley fever, the disease caused by fungal spores linked to drought and precipitation cycles.
There were 3,123 cases reported in the valley fever in the The first three months of the yearAccording to state health officials – doubling double the average at 10 years for the first quarter period. The cases went from a hollow of 801 in 2016 to 3,011 last year.
Most people who are infected with the fungus will not feel symptoms and their body will naturally defeat the infection. Those who suffer from symptoms are often in a hurry to recognize them, because they resemble the appearance of Covid or the flu, further complicating efforts to resolve the disease.
The disease is caused by the inhalation of coccidioid spores, a fungal pathogen that thrives in the dry and more dusty regions of the state. The fungus is released when the dry soil it grows is disrupted.
“We had somewhat seen this to come, just based on the climate cycle of recent years,” said George R. Thompson, professor of medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and specialist in invasive fungal infections.
Research has shown that models of drought and precipitation play an important role in the number of fever cases in the valley in California, said Doua Ge Yang, spokesperson for the Department of Public Health of the State. “When there are several years of drought in California, followed by a damp winter, then a dry summer,” increases in cases of valley fever for the next two years.
She said that 2023 characterized such a scenario and, as planned, 2024 resulted in a record number of casesWith 12,637 cases recorded.
“Valley fever is increasing in California,” she said.
Although the figures for 2025 are so far highest than the first trimester previously recorded, Yang said that health officials could not predict whether it will remain a record year. She also noted that all figures for 2024 and 2025 are considered to be preliminary – and therefore demographic problems such as age, sex and race cannot yet be reported.
In addition to the rain and drought models, research shows that other factors can play a role in valley fever incidents – including soil disturbance, such as the type of construction activity that accompanies it, wild fires and even archaeological excavations.
Construction workers, firefighters and archaeologists working in the dry and arid regions of the state run an increased risk of obtaining the disease – especially as The Californians enter these formerly less inhabited regions of the State.
Last year, at least 19 people who Attended lightning in a bottle, a five -day music and art festival held at Lake Buena Vista in Kern CountySuccumbed to the disease – including several which reported a serious illness, which included symptoms of the pneumonia type, rashes, headaches and exhaustion.
The festival organizers will again hold the event this year in the same place. According to the festival websiteThe organizers will try to reduce dust by applying water to the ground to keep it in place, adding artificial lawn in front of the dance stages and reducing the number of motorized vehicles used by the staff around the site and placing additional wood chips on heavy traffic areas to remove dust.
Because most people give off the disease by themselves, the real number of infected people is not known. However, if a person's immune system is unable to clean up the disease and it is not treated, it can cause death or permanent disability.
Treatment varies depending on severity, but antifungal drugs, such as fluconazole (diflucan) or itraconazole (sporanox, tolsura), are the most common drugs. However, they come with serious side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, dry skin, dry mouth and chapped lips.
While several counties in the center and southern California have experienced recent increases in their case, the number of Monterey has increased.
In 2023, 22 cases were reported during the first quarter in the County of Central California; This year, the number is 217.
County health officials said they started to see a wave in November of last year, when they sent A health notice Local medical suppliers and clinics provide information on advice on disease and tests.
County spokesperson Karen Smith said that many residents had experienced serious illness and delays in their treatment and diagnosis. She said the highest rates for people who live in the southern part of the county and in the largely agricultural Salinas valley.
She said the county encourages people to reduce their risk of getting the disease by avoiding breathing of dirt and dust.
Thompson, the doctor and researcher of the UC Davis, said that there were anecdotal evidence that the disease could increase in gravity, and that there are concerns to also have acquired a certain immunity to the current antifungal drugs used to fight it.
The theory is that the widespread use of antifungal chemicals on crops in the fields where the fungus is endemic can contribute to its resistance, but that research on the subject has only started and the answers so far is elusive.
He said there was an effort on the state level on these issues, which includes the participation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention American, the Department of Public Health of the State, UC Davis, UC San Francisco and Cal State Fresno and Cal State Bakersfield.
He said that for years, the disease had been widely sidelined in public health circles, because attention and funding aimed at other pathogens that had larger and more serious impacts.
“I hate to denigrate this, but I think that with limited resources, public health agencies must really prioritize certain pathogens,” he said.
