file.newsgroup.med.58153 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] ()
Subject: Re: Fungus "epidemic" in CA?
In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Gordon Banks) writes:
>>In article [email protected] (John Joseph Deltuvia) writes:
>>
>>>There was a story a few weeks ago on a network news show about some sort
>>>of fungus which supposedly attacks the bone structure and is somewhat
>>>widespread in California. Anybody hear anything about this one?
>>
>
>The only fungus I know of from California is Coccidiomycosis. I
>hadn't heard that it attacked bone. It attacks lung and if you
>are especially unlucky, the central nervous system. Nothing new
>about it. It's been around for years. THey call it "valley
>fever", since it is found in the inland valleys, not on the coast.
There is a mini-epidemic of Coccidiodes that is occurring in,
I believe, the Owen's Valley/ Bishop area east of the Sierras.
I don't believe there has been any great insight into the
increased incidence in that area. There is a low-level
of endemic infection in that region. Many people with
evidence of past exposure to the organism did not have
serious disease.
Brian
>