We were pleased to be interviewed for Michael Bedigan’s article “Valley Fever: The deadly and incurable disease terrifying the west coast” for the Independent. Several members of our Valley Fever Survivor Support Group and questionnaire respondents agreed to help Michael with his article for interviews and provided pictures of their ordeal with Valley Fever. Along…
A vaccine for Valley Fever appears to have major promising results. Not for people, but for dogs. The delta-CPS1 vaccine was originally derived from an infection that attacked maize, but now is useful for a “live” vaccine using genetically modified Coccidioides spores that are not able to cause the symptoms that characterize Valley Fever. Since…
After decades without an extensive survey of fungal death in America, the results are in. Fungi are more disease, more death, and is severely undercounted. Mitsuru Toda, PhD, Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in the CDC’s Mycotic Diseases Branch and Tom M. Chiller, MD, the chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the CDC evaluated deaths…
In Valley Fever the constant barrage of misinformation is astounding. You can’t be reinfected…until you are. It will probably be flu-like symptoms…unless it disseminates. It probably won’t affect you unless you’re in a risk group…until it does. Science proves there is enduring, lifelong immunity to Valley Fever…unless a reactivation takes place, sometimes even decades after…
In our support group there was discussion about failed tests and false negatives. One member asked for a recent medical citation that would attest to this so she could talk with her doctor about why she still felt Valley Fever symptoms when off her antifungal drugs, even without positive antibody titer tests. I located one…
When trying to prevent a Valley Fever infection there are only only a few choices. 1) Make sure you don’t go to the endemic areas or receive any packages from these areas. Our Maps and History page can assist with this. 2) If you are in an endemic area, wear an N95 or better respirator.…
A CT scan or MRI? This is a common consideration when doctors need more than a simple X-ray to look for Valley Fever in complex structures in the body. One study (Armbuster et al) described these and other imaging methods as “complementary” under the idea that more than one imaging test could find Valley Fever…
New science has been released since our previous post about the Valley Fever Survivor Face Mask. This study in Science Advances analyzed the number and size of respiratory droplets released from a speaker wearing different types of masks to determine which might be effective in COVID-19 prevention. Naturally, since Valley Fever is not spread by…
This article is not here to supersede medical guidance about masks or create controversy. It is simply written to share information about the Valley Fever Survivor face mask and the science of mask use for those who are interested. See the sources and links to learn more. Many states are still requiring the use of…
With the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis there have been positive and negative health claims. We are sometimes asked whether cannabis can help or hurt people with Valley Fever. Since feedback from users has been inconsistent we are not able to report on trends within our community. There also had not been a specific…