BAKERSFIELD - New patients infected with Valley Fever have the opportunity to participate in a vaccine trial in Kern County. Bakersfield Congressman Kevin McCarthy said it's a new era in fighting the sometimes deadly disease.
"There are going to be a thousand people in the trial, so you're going to get a large number which we've never had before," said McCarthy. "So we will know at the end of the trial which medicine works best."
On Tuesday, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health explained what they've uncovered about the disease. Last year, there were 17,802 new cases in the United States. Arizona had 12,920 and California had 4,431. Valley Fever is caused by a fungus that is found in undisturbed dirt and inhaled into the lungs.
An alarmingly high rate of the disease is found in Avenal and Pleasant Valley prisons.
"It's likely some of the prisons are built on areas with a high density of Cocci spores," said California Correctional Health Care Services researcher, Janet Mohle-Boetani, MD.
Mohle-Boetani also said African Americans, Filipinos and diabetics have a higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms, and many in those groups are being sent to different prison facilities.
Researchers will work with local doctors to find patients for the human vaccine trials.
"There are going to be a thousand people in the trial, so you're going to get a large number which we've never had before," said McCarthy. "So we will know at the end of the trial which medicine works best."
On Tuesday, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health explained what they've uncovered about the disease. Last year, there were 17,802 new cases in the United States. Arizona had 12,920 and California had 4,431. Valley Fever is caused by a fungus that is found in undisturbed dirt and inhaled into the lungs.
An alarmingly high rate of the disease is found in Avenal and Pleasant Valley prisons.
"It's likely some of the prisons are built on areas with a high density of Cocci spores," said California Correctional Health Care Services researcher, Janet Mohle-Boetani, MD.
Mohle-Boetani also said African Americans, Filipinos and diabetics have a higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms, and many in those groups are being sent to different prison facilities.
Researchers will work with local doctors to find patients for the human vaccine trials.