Also known as Coccidioidomycosis, Valley fever infections have been on the rise in recent years. Endemic to the desert Southwest, valley fever is caused by the soil-dwelling fungus Coccidioides. The cocci get stirred up by building, drilling, tilling, and clearing land, and disperse due to dry, hot, windy conditions. The spores may be inhaled and are capable of embedding deep into the lungs.
Valley fever cannot spread from person to person. Most people who are exposed to the fungus experience symptoms, but do not get sick. The signs—fever, cough, and exhaustion—are difficult to distinguish from the flu, and can last for weeks to months. In people with weakened immune systems, the infection can cause more severe conditions such as meningitis or death.
There is no vaccine for valley fever, and many in the general public (including the medical community) know very little about the illness. This lack of knowledge has allowed many milder cases to go undiagnosed, leading to underreporting. In addition, valley fever has not received sufficient funding for research.
many milder cases go undiagnosed, which may mean that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
The increase could be because of:
• More people exposed to the fungus because of increased travel or relocation to the southwestern United States
• Changes in the way cases of valley fever are being detected and reported to public health officials, or
• Changes in factors such as temperature and rainfall, which can affect the growth of the fungus in the environment and how much of it is circulating in the air.
There is no vaccine to protect against it and, in the most severe cases, no cure. The population of Phoenix has grown by ten per cent in the past deca...
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... and heating up, and development pushing deeper into uninhabited terrain, the range of cocci is likely to increase. But other factors may aggravate its impact, too. With more and longer-lived transplant patients and a proliferating set of indications for immunosuppressive drugs, researchers expect to see an acceleration in the number of life-threatening cases. “As we as a population become more immunosuppressed, we become at higher risk,” Tom Chiller, a fungal expert at the C.D.C., said.
More awareness about valley fever among the general community and among healthcare providers is needed. Increased awareness could help avoid missed diagnoses. For example, one study showed that valley fever patients who knew about the disease before visiting a doctor were more likely to ask to be tested and were diagnosed sooner than patients who didn’t know about the disease.
...Organization summed it up best by stating “yellow fever is still considered to be a public health emergency of international concern,” (Yellow Fever WHO).
The medical field is a vast land of beauty, but with great beauty comes immense horror. There are many deadly viruses and diseases found in the medical field. In the novel, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the author discusses the many deadly viruses found in the field. The viruses are widespread due to the errors that occur when the viruses are in the presence of human beings. The effects of the errors performed by the human race include a decrease in population and wildlife.
one would do anything to avoid this potentially deadly disease, but the most favorable option, a vaccine, is not available. This blemish to our society should be corrected as a precautionary measure, which would ultimately enhance life in the future.
...nd make people aware that it is more common than people realize and that a rather large part of America has the illness, whether they know it or not. This paper also discussed how the virus, could target certain individuals more easily than others based on the genetic makeup of an individual and families.
Almost no one on Earth has any immunity at all to this virus, which makes ordinary vaccines useless against it. The sudden spread of the virus into Europe foreshadows an epidemic development that could be worldwide. Ultimately, there is no way to protect ourselves against epidemics. They will keep disappearing and coming back in new forms.
The discovery of yellow fever would have not been possible if people had not put aside their misconceptions of where diseases originated. Diseases in olden time were believed to be divine punishment to people who had committed bad deeds, and therefore not much was done to try to find cures for diseases like yellow fever. As defined by the World Health Organization, yellow fever an acute viral hemorrhagic diseases transmitted by infected mosquitoes, and a common characteristic of this disease is the development of jaundice which gave it the name "yellow" fever. The mosquito responsible for the transmission of the disease is the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. Her transmission of the disease occurs as a result of it biting an infected host and inside her body the virus multiplies, and afterwards if the mosquito bites someone that person becomes infected.
Dybas. C.L (2008) ‘Climate, Environment, and Infectious Diseases: A Report from the AIBS 2008 Annual Meeting’, BioScience, Vol. 58 (No. 9). Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1641/B580903 [Accessed 12 March 2014]
Each day researchers are finding out about vaccines and are realizing that there are a lot more risks than benefits. Dr Phillip F. Incao explains: “Today, far more children suffer from allergies and other chronic immune system disorders than from life-threatening infectious disease. It is neither reasonable nor prudent to persist in presuming that the benefits of any vaccination outweigh its risk” (qtd in Spaker). While infectious diseases are becoming uncommon there is no need for any person to get vaccinated. There have been many issues surrounding vaccinations all around the world.
Valley fever is a fungal pathogen. Coccidioidomycosis is valley fever’s scientific name. The pathogen’s structure is a spore. Valley fever is caused by Coccidioides immitis. Coccidioides immitis is a fungus that grows in soil. Valley fever is most commonly found in areas with little precipitation. This pathogen is most commonly found in the southern United States, Central America, and South America. However, scientists are worried that increased temperatures may cause valley fever to spread and affect new areas.
Furthermore, reporting communicable diseases to the local health department can help detect outbreaks and prevent secondary transmission. This is especially true when there is an outbreak of illnesses, such as Encephalitis, smallpox, and rabies. These illnesses are warrant prompt and need to be reported immediately (2017). It is the responsibility of physicians, nurses, laboratory directors, infection and control practitioners, health care facilities, state institutions, and schools to report communicable
Valley fever is transmitted when bacteria in the soil become airborne and are inhaled. California residents must understand the harmful effects of air pollution and make better choices when using energy or transportation. The drought conditions are worsening, but communities and individuals can work together to help improve the air quality. References California drought and air quality Santa Barbara County air pollution control district. (2015).
in 1793 there was a huge fever outbreak killing over 2000 people. It was treated two different ways. Dr. Benjamin Rush, Philadelphia’s best doctor recommended bleeding the patient, While the french doctors had a more sensible way of drinking liquids and rest. This outbreak was called yellow fever. The disease was transmitted by infected mosquitoes, and the virus brought by refugees. There is no sure treatment and never was in 1793. This will tell you how It was treated by doctors in 1793, some methods working and others meaning certain death.
...sease will spread to become an outbreak as it has a higher likelihood of spreading throughout the population before it is recognized as a new disease and treatment has begun. Factors such as high population density, high speed air travel and antibiotic resistance aid the spread of the disease and contribute to it becoming an outbreak. Epidemiology and other safety measures aid in the protection of the population from outbreaks of disease and alter the susceptibility of the human race to outbreaks of disease.
The Disease Yellow Fever Throughout history, many different diseases have infected the world. Such diseases consist of measles, mumps, malaria, typhus and yellow fever. Many of these diseases are caused by different things and originated in different countries. Yellow fever is a deadly disease caused by a viral infection that is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although it is found to be most common in males in their early 20's, yellow fever can affect any sex, race, or age.
...on” (Rosen). So many people suffered from this disease and even those that were not infected, it caused pain and tragic despair. “In Naples, they lost 63,000 people in the matters of two months” (Rosen)! People back then did not know how to handle the disease so they tried to leave, but that made it spread quicker than normal. Throughout Europe at least half the population died.