The World from PRX

The Spores of Sickness

Valley Fever is the fastest-growing infectious disease in Central California. Once the spores that cause it are stirred from their home in the dirt, they travel on the wind. They can be breathed in, and cause serious life-threatening disease. Produced in

Valley Fever is a fungus that makes its way from dry dirt into the respiratory system and it’s rapidly spreading the central California and parts of the Southwest. As Living on Earth and Planet Harmony’s Mwende Hahsey (Hay-see) reports, experts say the fungus is especially harmful to African Americans and Hispanics.