Health officials from throughout the state discuss Valley Fever

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Health officials from throughout the state discuss Valley Fever

KESQ - Palm Desert,CA

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=6571323 & nav=9qrx

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - Health officials from throughout the

state gathered this week in Kern County for a first-ever symposium

to call for funding for a vaccine to Valley Fever, a potentially

fatal respiratory disease blamed on fungus in the soil.

Cases of Valley Fever in California have shot up recently, though

the disease is reported throughout the Southwest, especially Arizona.

Still, health officials say cases of Valley Fever are vastly

underreported.

Most people who get Valley Fever do not become ill enough to need

medical treatment. The lung disease is not contagious, but can

become deadly when it spreads to bones and other parts of the body.

More than 3,000 people contracted the disease in California last

year -- with more than 1,000 cases reported from Kern County.