2 days ago
County highlights more 'Faces of Valley Fever' as cases continue to rise
Cases of valley fever are increasing in California and local health officials are sharing personal stories as a way of raising awareness.
The Kern County Department of Public Health has released three new videos in its "faces of valley fever" campaign, which started in April.
"Behind every case of valley fever is a real person with a story to tell — an attorney, a radio personality, a child," Public Health said in a news release. "Each journey is different. Their voices bring awareness. Their stories bring hope."
The three people highlighted in the latest round of videos are defense attorney David Torres, radio host Ralph Bailey and Rio Bravo Elementary School student Ivory Nunez.
"To be quite honest, when I was finally diagnosed I was scared to death," Bailey said in a video posted to Public Health's YouTube page.
Bailey was diagnosed with valley fever in 2010 and it was only through the persistence of his doctors that he was diagnosed and treated.
"I talk about this a lot on my show. I beg my listeners to go see a physician on the regular," Bailey said. "Had I not gone to my (general practitioner), had I not gone to (my doctor) and had him be able to diagnose me so quickly, who knows what would have happened to me."
Valley fever — also called coccidioidomycosis or 'cocci' — is a disease caused by a fungus that grows in the dirt and soil. People and animals can get sick when they breathe in dust that contains the valley fever fungus. The fungus usually infects the lungs and can cause respiratory symptoms including cough, fever, chest pain and tiredness.
Valley fever cases have been rising across the state over the past decade. According to the California Department of Public Health, valley fever cases tripled from 2014 to 2018; and from 2018 to 2022, between 7,000 and 9,000 cases were reported each year.
In 2024, Kern County reached an all-time high of 3,990 cases, a 27% increase over the 3,152 cases in 2023 and a 14% increase over the previous record of 3,488 in 2019.
Kern County has the second highest instance of valley fever in the nation, according to Paul Rzucidlo, epidemiologist with Kern County Public Health.
"The vast majority of people will never even know they were sick," Rzucidlo said. "Or, if they didn't know they were sick, you know, they'll think they have a cold or something like that and it'll go away."
But for some people the symptoms can be severe and require a lifetime of treatment. The county has also seen a rise in the number of deaths from valley fever.
There were 49 deaths in 2024, a 17% increase over the previous record of 42 in 2018, and more than double the 23 deaths reported in 2020, according to Public Health.
What's driving the increase isn't exactly clear.
"There are a lot of things that could be driving it and there are of course some unknowns because valley fever is an understudied disease," Rzucidlo said. "But recent research has shown that probably one of the largest drivers that's going on is climate change."
The fungus that causes valley fever forms in the soil following wet weather, and prolonged periods of dryness create the conditions in which the spores can enter the air. Data shows the number of cases tends to peak in October, and Rzucidlo said the county experienced its highest number of cases following an extremely wet winter in 2022.
"There's no way for us to get rid of it in the soil or anything like that, so what we look at for prevention is to kind of watch out for dust," Rzucidlo said.
Dirt or soil that is regularly disturbed isn't a concern; it's the dust that's been sitting for prolonged periods.
"If you're working with something like that, you would want to make sure to wet it down to kind of reduce that dust generation," Rzucidlo said. "If you're digging it up, try to be upwind from where any dust would generate so the dust would blow away from you. Wearing an N95 can also protect you, so that's the only mask that's known to be protective."
Kern County Public Health launched its "Faces of Valley Fever" campaign earlier this year and released the additional videos as cases continue to rise.
"For me, valley fever feels like my body gets so heavy that I don't want to get up," Ivory, age 8, said in her video.
Ivory — already a chronic asthma sufferer — contracted the disease when she was 6, leading to several emergency room visits. Her mother insisted doctors test her blood, which led to the valley fever diagnosis and treatment.
"For everyone that's going through this or will go through this in the future with your child, husband, family member, anyone, you're not alone and you will get through it," said Samantha Nunez, Ivory's mother, in the video. "It will be a tough start, but you will get through it."
