SF Gate They’re not going to live normally’: A devastating disease has surged in Calif. This month, the California Department of Public Health reported that Valley fever cases are on track to surpass last year’s record number of over 12,500 cases.
The infection, caused when people inhale spores of the naturally occurring Coccidioides fungus, made up fewer than 1,000 cases back in 2000 in California.
Shaun Yang, the director for molecular microbiology and pathogen genomics at the UCLA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, said relatively mild and wet winters in much of California mean the fungus can thrive underground without being killed off by frost.
“This kind of very wet and dry pattern definitely is perfect for this fungus to grow,” Yang told SFGATE.