Lorena Anderson

Key Points:

• Valley fever is widely underdiagnosed and often mistaken for common respiratory illnesses, leading to delayed diagnosis and unnecessary antibiotic use.

• Cases are rising and spreading geographically, driven by climate patterns, soil disruption and population growth, making the disease a growing public health concern.

• The study promotes the COCCI framework, which emphasizes early testing, exposure assessment and structured clinical decision-making to improve outcomes and reduce complications.

An average of more than 1 million acres of idled farmland a year is a significant contributor to a growing dust problem in California that has implications for millions of residents’ health and the state’s climate.

UC Merced is offering the opportunity for Valley residents to learn what clinicians and researchers know about Valley fever, an airborne fungal infection that can have serious, even fatal, consequences for people across California and the Southwest.

A multi-campus Valley fever summit in the California Room at UC Merced on Oct. 25 is free and open to all who reserve seats online by 5 p.m. Oct. 15.

Clinicians searching for a new way to identify Valley fever patients who will develop the disease’s worst symptoms will find hope in a new paper by UC Merced Professor Katrina Hoyer .