This decade has seen a dramatic increase in the fatal dust-borne lung disease called valley fever, which has affected number of people according to the new federal report.
Officials of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in the report issued that the infection rate has grown so quickly in some areas of California's San Joaquin Valley and parts of Arizona that the people with concession resistant structure should put on masks in dusty regions.
The Centers for Disease Control also says that the overall number of cases in California grew from 4,126 between 1995 and 1999, to 16,970 between 2000 and 2007. Kern County accounted for nearly 11,000 of all cases reported. The report also says that during the same periods, deaths increased from 307 to 752.
"Reasons for these recent increases are not fully understood." Is what is reported from the CDC. Some infections associated with construction will disturb the soil and release the spores, as well as plowing and discing farm fields.
"We've seen an explosive population growth in recent years and simultaneously, a great deal of new construction in the valley," said Richard Hector, the director of Valley Fever Vaccine Project at the University of California, San Francisco. "So that means you have both the disruption of soil and an influx of people from outlying areas who had never been exposed to it before and wouldn't be immune."
When the spores from the soil are inhaled by people and animals, it may lead to lung infections. There are no symptoms for this infection, but 40 percent may develop an illness that mimics the flu. Those most susceptible can develop potentially fatal liver, lung and spleen damage.
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