A recent article in the New Yorker Magazine on Valley Fever had several patients talking. They mentioned this article as both fascinating and enlightening about a condition we have all heard about. Although Valley Fever is actually meant to indicated the San Jaoquin Valley, where this fungal infection was first identified in the U.S., Phoenecians think of it a ‘our valley’ that gave this fungal infection its common name.
Coccidiomycosis, the office name for Valley Fever, is often a mild illness that goes unnoticed, but in this article the severe nature of the exceptional cases is the focus, and the research into this condition is ongoing at University of Arizona and UC Davis, in California. In fact, we often do bloodwork for Valley Fever and send it to Dr. Pappagianis lab in California for confirmation of the diagnosis and assistance with prognosis of future complications.