Here in California's San Joaquin Valley, the disease known as valley fever can strike anyone at almost anyone at almost anytime. Just ask Dr. James McCarthy.
"It's pretty difficult to prevent something that you can acquire just by breathing in the air," says McCarthy.
Just breathing in the air. Air that contains the spores of a soil fungus found throughout much of the Southwest, but especially in the southern portions of the San Joaquin Valley.
Since it was enacted in 2004, California’s Proposition 63 has raised over $8 billion by taxing the wealthy. The money was intended to pay for mental health services and prevention programs. But lawmakers have called for an audit after questions were raised about how money from the “millionaires’ tax” is being spent.
Todd and Tammy Schaefer walk through a neighbor’s vineyard with their Old English Mastiff, Daisy Ray. Todd was working in a vineyard when he contracted valley fever.
Credit Rebecca Plevin/Vida en el Valle
Todd Schaefer, pictured with his wife Tammy Schaefer, has had disseminated coccidioidomycosis, and fungal spinal meningitis for almost 9 years now.
Credit Laura Dickinson/ Vida en el Valle / Reporting on Health Collaborative
Just the sight of the myriad medications Todd Schaefer must take for his valley fever makes him feel ill. A side-effect of the medications is nausea and vomiting.
Credit Laura Dickinson/ Vida en el Valle
Todd Schaefer walks around a neighbor's vineyard looking at a bunch of Syrah grapes and discussing how he contracted valley fever from the area’s dirt.
By Rebecca Plevin and Reporting On Health Collaborative
Todd and Tammy Schaefer appear the picture of good fortune and good health.
Tall, fit and well dressed, the couple met in Malibu, where they established their wine business. In 2001, they moved to Paso Robles, in San Luis Obispo County, and focused on Pacific Coast Vineyards full-time.
That’s where their long nightmare with valley fever began. Early in October 2003, Todd Schaefer was running a bulldozer that kicked up a thick cloud of dust.
Thomas Mace, senior scientific adviser to NASA, helps Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer pour a soil sample into a test tube near Bear Valley Springs.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Californian
Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer wades through mustard plants in Bear Valley Springs to get to collect a soil sample.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Californian
Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer wades through mustard plants in Bear Valley Springs to collect a soil sample.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Bakersfield Californian
Samples of soil lie in ice in the trunk of Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer so they can stay preserved on the trip back to Bakersfield.
By Kellie Schmitt and Rebecca Plevin, Reporting On Health Collaborative
Valley fever feeds on heat.
And as the average temperature ticks up with each passing decade, experts are concerned that the fungus’ footprint and impact are expanding, as evidenced by a rise in cases in areas far outside the hot spots of the Central Valley of California.
