CDC says Valley Fever mold cases could increase 25 times over the next few years due to climate change
A deadly fungus for which there is no vaccine is set to emerge in the coming decades, according to alarming official predictions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Valley Fever could infect more than half a million Americans a year in the coming decades β compared to about 20,000 who currently get sick each year.
The agency said that due to rising temperatures around the world, the endemic area of ββthe disease will spread north to include arid western areas. Other experts fear so could be endemic in 17 states by 2100.
Valley fever β which got its name because 97 percent of cases are found in Arizona and California β is caused by the fungus Coccidioides, which releases spores into the air when the soil is disturbed. The spores are then inhaled by humans.
The infection – which kills one in 100 people – is often misdiagnosed and often mistaken for pneumonia. Symptoms include fatigue, cough, fever, muscle aches and shortness of breath.
Valley Fever is already endemic to the Southwestern states, but the CDC believes the fungus that causes the disease is also found in the Northern states
The infection was named Valley Fever because 97 percent of cases are found in Arizona and California
DailyMail.com previously spoke to Nick Duggan, an Australian man who was told by doctors he would “never walk or hold his children again” after contracting the deadly disease in 2010.
The preliminary CDC numbers were released in a Health Service presentation to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in November 2022, but have only recently come to light.
It’s not clear when the CDC expects there to be 500,000 cases annually. DailyMail.com has approached the agency for clarification.
Samantha Williams, an epidemiologist with the Mycotic Diseases Branch of the CDC, shared CBS news: ‘There just isn’t much awareness or knowledge about the disease.
βWe see a lot of travel-related cases; we’ve seen reports of cases popping up in places where we wouldn’t normally have expected valley fever to be endemic.”
Dr. Williams is part of the team that created the estimates, part of the CDC’s new initiative to tackle the disease.
Only a small number of annual cases are reported to the CDC, but this number has been growing since 2014.
The number of cases in 2021 – 20,971 – is the highest ever recorded in a single year since the last peak in 2011.
Most people with the mild form of infection will not realize it because the symptoms – fatigue, cough, fever, muscle aches and shortness of breath – are similar to those of a respiratory virus infection.
The disease is often overlooked by doctors and misdiagnosed as pneumonia.
Other symptoms include night sweats, joint pain, and a red rash, usually on the legs, but occasionally on the chest, arms, and back.
But up to ten percent of cases become severe and take months to recover from.
In these cases, known as disseminated coccidioidomycosis, the disease can spread through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, including the brain, skin, and liver. If it infects the membranes and fluid around the brain, it can cause meningitis.
And in areas that have traditionally been Valley Fever hotspots, health officials have warned of signs of cases already rising.
Dr. Williams said: “If you compare the numbers now and in 2021 to 2014, they’ve gone up quite drastically since then. In fact, it’s doubled within Arizona and more than tripled within California.β
The fungal spores are flung into the air when the soil is disturbed by wind or digging. When humans or animals inhale the spores, they travel through the airways to the lungs, where they reproduce
Meanwhile, Dr. John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, said“If you get pneumonia right now, there’s about a one in five chance that your pneumonia is caused by valley fever.”
He added, “If you live in Arizona and you get pneumonia, you should get tested for Valley Fever.”
Coccidioidomycosis or cocci comes from a fungus that grows in the soil in some parts of California and the southwestern United States.
The fungal spores are flung into the air when the soil is disturbed by wind or digging.
When humans or animals inhale the spores, they travel through the respiratory tract and into the lungs, where they reproduce and cause further illness.
Most infections are mild and clear up on their own within a few days or weeks, and the disease cannot be passed between humans or animals.
Mr Duggan, the Australian-born who contracted Valley Fever in 2010, told DailyMail.com he most likely contracted the disease while quad biking in the San Diego desert where he was visiting his wife’s family.
He thinks he inhaled the mold spores that were kicked up in the dust. By the time the doctors figured out what it was, the infection had spread to his spine and brain and caused meningitis, which left him bedridden for four months and in and out of the hospital for five years.
Valley fever is already difficult to treat and there is no vaccine for it. Patients may have to take antifungal medication for months and experience unpleasant side effects such as hair loss and flaky skin.
Scientists have been trying to formulate a valley fever vaccine for decades, but an injection tested in humans in the 1980s didn’t perform well.
In recent years, scientists at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson have developed a vaccine that works in dogs, which are also at risk for the infection.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture could approve the injection for dogs in early 2024, which would be the first to provide protection against a fungal infection in humans or animals in America.