Source: Valley Fever Symposium held to educate clinicians
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Wednesday night over one hundred clinicians participated in the first Valley Fever Symposium hosted by the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical.
The symposium was an opportunity for experts to educate local clinicians on the disease they say is often misdiagnosed.
While this is a short story, the need to ensure physicians do not minimize, ignore, or misdiagnose the disease is a major uphill climb. A part of that may have to do with the on-screen mention of 3000 reported cases. Case reporting is sometimes called the “mycological iceberg” in medical journals because the known incidence of fungal disease is only the tip of the iceberg. This is especially problematic with Valley Fever. Education is vital.
With such a limited arsenal of antifungal drugs to fight VF, the pharmaceutical companies’ sponsored educational events tend to focus on education for the drugs that are newly available. VF education may not be as shiny and new as the latest FDA-approved drugs, but it is critical for doctors and the public alike.