Valley Fever: Research, Funding, and Future?

A "fiesta" for Valley Fever awaits in the American West and Mexico! If you visit or live in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah, California, or the drier regions of the country of Mexico, you have breathed-in the coccidioidomycosis fungus. This cocci, as the medical community calls it, causes the Valley Fever infection that can lead to pneumonia and even death.

"Arizona state statistics show that reported cases of valley fever are at record levels. . . four times the five-year average for the (2006) January-April time period." (from research page at www.vfce.arizona.edu, accessed 18 March 2007)

At the forefront of cocci research, is the Valley Fever Center of Excellence, in Tucson, Arizona. Last year, their international symposium met in New York City. The official report is currently undergoing publication processing.

Valley fever is documented across the Western United States. Arizona's capitol city of Phoenix, as well as its entire Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties, reports the highest incident of cocci. Tucson's University of Arizona's Medical Center is home to the Valley Fever Center for Excellence (VFCE), and teams up with the two clinic locations for Arizona Community Physicians. Together they track the occurrences and details of the valley fever cases in Arizona. All cocci lab tests are sent to the VFCE for analysis and documentation.

The Valley Fever Center for Excellence will hold their Seventh International Symposium on Coccidioidomycosis March 31^st, 2007 at Arizona State University's Main Auditorium at the new Biodesign Institute on the Tempe, Arizona campus.

Main focus will be on this amazing fact: Over 85% of the valley fever cases, between 2001 and 2006, in Arizona occurred in only one year - 2006! The symposium will compile information on this "spike in numbers" of cases. They will also carry-out intense presentation and discussion of the "most unusual" cases in the Southwestern region of the United States. This is a long-term effort to better understand valley fever and research possibilities for vaccinations and cures.