United States: Over 20,000 people at the Lightning in a Bottle music festival in California might have been exposed to Valley fever, a dangerous fungal illness. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is investigating five cases linked to attendees who travelled through Kern County from May 22-27.
Hospitalizations and Symptoms
As reported by Fox Weather, so far, three people have been hospitalized, and more cases could be related to the festival. Valley fever cannot spread between people or animals, but its symptoms include cough, fever, fatigue, and difficulty breathing and also the chest pain as well this is according to the doctors and there are almost about 200 deaths a year due to the disease.
Valley Fever Details
Those are many of these people with severe immunocompromising illnesses underlying this infection,” said Dr. Brad Perkins, chief medical officer at Karius, a company that provides advanced diagnostics for infectious diseases. “It can be a devastating, destructing and could be infection in those people. That’s pretty rare, fortunately.”
Lightning in a Bottle Attendees can visit the CDPH valley fever survey website for more information and to share details about illness.
What is Valley fever?
The infectious disease is caused by the Coccidioides fungus which grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California.
“While most people exposed to this fungus do not develop Valley fever, the fungus can infect and kind of mutate the lungs and cause respiratory symptoms, including cough, difficulty breathing, fever, and tiredness or fatigue,” the CDPH reports.
In very rare cases the fever fungus can spread to the other parts of the body and cause severe disease.
In the past lives the valley and the outbreaks have been linked to the breathing in the dust and the dirt at the outdoor events and the job sites in the certain parts of the California where the valley fever is very common.
Valley fever is on the rise specifically in California according to the CDPH with almost the high rises in the cases which was reported since last year and also the most common in the San Joaquin Valley and almost situated at Central Coast areas of the California.
About the Author
