TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This past year, we saw the highest number of people diagnosed with Valley fever in Arizona since 2011, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Living here in the desert automatically puts us at risk for Valley fever. Our friends and family living outside of the Southwest may not have even heard of it.
Dr. John Galgiani is a professor of internal medicine and director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona. He's dedicated much of his career to studying Valley fever. He says two-thirds of Valley fever cases in the U.S. are contracted here in Arizona – and it's due to our soil.
“If you inhale a spore that gets out of the dirt, you become infected,” Dr. Galigiani said.
The most recent data from ADHS shows 14,640 cases in our state this past year. Pima County had 1,564 cases, while Maricopa County had the majority of the cases, 10,686.
However, Dr. Galigiani says the number of cases is underreported.
“Many of the physicians that take care of patients here in Arizona actually learn their medicine in other places where this disease is not very common.”
Both the Valley Fever Center for Excellence and the Pima County Health Department are encouraging more testing for it.
Pima County Health Department Epidemiology Division Manager Dr. Lindsay Kohler says our activities could have an impact on the number of cases each year, but says the weather also plays a large part in transmitting it.
“We had a much drier, hotter season and that's what it thrives in and so there could be more fungus in the environment,” Dr. Kohler said.
Some typical symptoms include fever, cough, and fatigue.
The good news is that fungal infections cannot be transmitted from one person to another.
While we may not be able to change where we live, work, and go to school, there are a few things you can do to prevent the disease.
“If you know you're going to be outside working in native soil, you can always wear a mask or a respirator and also if you see on the news that it's going to be a really windy day or a haboob is on the way, stay inside, keep your doors closed, windows closed and things when it's really windy outside.”
