The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

Valley Fever on the rise in LA County

by •

LOS ANGELES  – Los Angeles County saw a 37 percent increase in Valley Fever infections in 2016, compared to the previous year, continuing a seven-year trend of increases that has seen infections rise by nearly four-fold, public health officials said Friday.

According to the county Department of Public Health, there were 714 reported cases of Valley Fever in 2016, up from 521 the previous year.

According to the county, residents of the Antelope Valley are almost nine times more likely to contract Valley Fever than residents of the rest of the county. Men are twice as likely as women to be diagnosed, while the highest rates of infection are among middle-aged and older adults.

The infection is caused by a fungus spore that grows in certain types of soil. Patients become infected by breathing in spores present in airborne dust, typically during windy conditions or in areas where dust is stirred by activities such as construction or gardening.

Most people affected with Valley Fever show no symptoms, but some can develop flu-like illnesses, with severe cases leading to pneumonia or meningitis.

County officials said it’s unclear why the number of cases continues to rise, but they said changes in weather and rainfall could be contributing factors, along with increased reporting by health care providers.

Residents can reduce their risk of contracting the illness by trying to avoid breathing in dirt or dust. Residents should keep car windows closed while driving, use recirculating air conditioning, wear a mask in particularly dusty areas and avoid disturbing the soil where possible.

More information on Valley Fever is available online at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/Diseases/Cocci.htm.

–

Filed Under: Health

21 comments for "Valley Fever on the rise in LA County"

  1. You can also blame LA County and all other public entities including Rex Parris and Supervisor Antonofshit that have done a terrible job providing water infrastructure over the past 50 years. Because of their lack proper governance…..LA County, over the past 15 + years have been suing AV farmers because they basically want to Eminent Domain the water the landowners have via federal rights. Many of us have owned AV farmland for over 100 years but with the lawsuit ending and California’s ancient/draconian water laws (the farmers got hosed) landowners and farmers now own approximately 50% less of our previous water ownership. They way the County did it is they said the AV aquifer is being over pumped and the farmers are to blame. This is false. The truth is most areas where there are signs for over pumping are where LA County has pumps!!!! They are the ones overpumping. Judge Komar, the presiding judge on the case, who by the way is being paid by LA County, was biased and would not allow many facts to be heard. From the beginning he was going to side with LA County, It’s as clear as day and if I was not in the court room and saw it myself I would not believe it. The movie China Town is still real 50 years later and is now happening in the AV. They stole our water because they have done such a crappy job they are scared to death they will not be able to provide water to the citizenry. Here is the killer part. I guarantee in 10 years AVEK and LA Waterworks #40 are going to tell the residents of the AV that their aquifer is still dangerously low and that they need to buy foreign water from N Cal. Why, so they will have PLENTY of aquifer water to sell to the residents of Los Angeles. Why? So they can charge more because the City of LA pays more. Do you see the scam? It sounds like a Hollywood movie but it’s not, it’s real and it’s going on right now.

    ALSO!!!!! Check this out. Are you familiar with the Antelope Valley Area Plan????? It states that only one residential home can be built on every 20 acres. I’m not making that up. Google Antelope Valley Area Plan and see what comes up. They say they want to preserve the rural charm of the Antelope Valley. Seriously? Please explain that to me. Here is what is really happening. If you reduce the amount of water we can pump (farmers will go out of business) and then tell us we cannot build homes on our land …….. you have then made farmland worthless. Ask any realtor in the AV right now what is happening to the value of farmland in the AV and they will tell you. NOW HERE IS THE PART WHERE THE RUTHLESSNESS OF GOVERNMENT IS JUST MIND BOGGLING. It is my belief that in the next 10 years large dollars will come riding into the AV and will buy up all of this NOW worthless land. THEN……HERE COMES THE DAGGER….. within 10 years LA County will unwind everything they have done. LA County will announce that the water crisis is over, the AV aquifer is healthy again and that the Area Plan was a bad idea and they will once again allow huge multi-housing commercial real estate projects to be built. Those big money developers will then own land that they bought on the cheap AND that has water rights attached. Not enough water to farm but plenty of water to build housing. The farmers get screwed big time. I am not a crazy. All of this is either happening now or will happen. Cut and paste this and send it to everyone with a voice in the AV to expose all of this trickery while there is still time.

  2. I see the need of a class action suit against Rex and the solar creeps. Hmmm… who would represent us. LOL

  3. … all these nitwit low-lives mindlessly Mexifornia-cating our neighborhoods, digging up their lawns, desertifying planet Earth putting in rock, then waiting a few months before running their blowers, to blow out the leaves and debris, kicks up the mother of all haboobs, makes the whole neighborhood downwind sick to our stomachs –

  4. Valley Fever has always been around. Some years are worse than others. Has nothing to do with a politician.

    • Valley Fever is on a huge rise. Solar farms are on s huge rise. Mayor Parris is the leading proponent of Solar Farms in Lancaster and the West Valley.

      California legislation calls for a 50 percent renewable electricity portfolio.

      Politicians are definitely responsible.

      Good politicians would see the need for renewables and the health risks involved and put Solar Farms away from where people live.

      Mayor Parris is not a good politician or a good person. He is greedy.

      • Why are there no solar farms out past the East side where prevailing winds would blow away from the population? I think it is to keep big parcels of West side property locked down for future pricey development when the time is right. The solar goes all the way up to the mountain edge, where breathtaking valley views occur. Also the North side of the base of a mountain, is not as ideal as the flat of the valley for optimum solar.

      • Lucas…I agree with you about Rex Parris. His first year as Mayor of Lancaster was 2008, and he is now in his fourth term which will terminate in 2020. Those who speak out against the political/economic system in Lancaster do not vote for the most part. Voter apathy abounds, and if people are convinced Rex Parris is to blame for the rise in valley fever, then many more people need to make changes by voting him out in 2020.

        • Sorry. I tried the ‘rouse the voters’ thing, but ended up just moving to Palmdale. The crony system in Lancaster is rooted deeper than Wrecks. He is the current most visible manifestation, but Lancaster has never had a decent city government, and it seems unlikely that it ever will.

    • His cronies…turnout in Lancaster elections only runs about 5% so he can buy enough votes to win. Turnout suppression is a long standing operation by the Fern Street Mafia.

      • Rex may be twisted, demented, and pure evil, but he’s not stupid. He knows how to manipulated people, churches, courts, politicians, and the media.

        To keep the Rex train going in Lancaster, he puts on his Christian hat and proclaims hat he’s a believer. He attends Lancaster Baptist, which one of the largest churches in the Antelope Valley. He does videos for Pastor Paul Chappel and the flock thinks he’s one of them. The faithful were hugely disappointed when Rex ignored their pleas to keep marijuana cultivation out of Lancaster. Rex doesn’t care. He knows the lemming will vote for him like usual.

        He’s fooled the local Republicans into thinking he’s some sort of conservative hardliner. While it’s not hard to fool Antelope Valley Republicans since many of them are the same churchgoers he uses in elections, Rex is anything but a Republican. Or a Democrat for that matter. His position on global warming is extremely left of people like President Obama; his proposed bounties on people of color affiliated with gangs puts him right of David Duke. Rex is an opportunist who is driven by power and money, and nothing else.

        Until people wake up and see what he really is, expect more of the same. That included deaths by Valley Fever.

    • Rex doesn’t need a mask when he’s breathing ocean air. Do you think he is concerned with the people who live in the AV? You don’t have a clue as to what a monster he is.

  7. Avoid breathing in dirt or dust really what a joke, maybe if you stop digging to build all these solar panels everywhere the problem just might stop!!!

  8. Rest of the story, people with Valley Fever will stand a 90% chance of death, now digest those numbers Sir Rex.

    • Do you think Rex gives a damn about any of us in the AV? That scumbags lives in Laguna in a multi-million dollar home. He truly hates the Valley.

      • Everyone does have a 100% chance of death. When death occurs is variable. There are often outside factors that contribute to premature death. Valley Fever is one of those factors.

        Not that you or Rex care, but it is a fact. A damnable fact.

  9. I say, blame it on Parris and his money hungry cronies. The development of the solar fields continue to disturb the soil, by preparing the land, putting in the solar panels, and excessive heavy trucks driving excessive speeds on the dirt roads and kicking up dust, even along side of the paved roads. Does Parris care? Hell no, he’s kicked back all cool and collective at his home in Laguna Beach. The mayor of a city should be required to live full time in the city that he is mayor of.