Integrated Epidemiological Study of Valley Fever

BACKGROUND

Valley fever (coccidioidomycosis) is a re-emerging infectious disease caused by inhaling the spores of a fungus (Coccidioides immitis) growing in the soil. Valley fever poses a special problem for:

A progressive increase in cases of valley fever has occurred in Arizona for the past several years, and the reasons for this increase are obscured by our limited understanding of disease development due to environment and exposure. There may be a true epidemic of valley fever underway or the increase in cases may be result of increased awareness of the disease and diagnosis by clinicians.
The only practical prevention measures currently available against this disease are to avoid regions where the fungus grows and activities enhancing soil/spore exposure. Valley fever occurs in the southwestern United States where the climate is arid and warm. Dust storms are associated with increased numbers of infections, but little is known about the source of the fungal spores, or the specific ecological conditions required for the soil fungus to grow. Because of this, research studies have been unable to evaluate exposure risk from the pathogen beyond a regional level. Airborne spore sampling techniques used during the 1960s proved discouraging as a tool for evaluating exposure.

Environmental detection and monitoring of the fungus offers new challenges today. It is considered a potential biological terrorist agent and culturing the fungus requires Biosafety Level 3 (BL3) containment and handling, similar to anthrax. The safety requirements add to the difficulty and expense of studying the epidemiology of this disease. We hope to develop identification techniques that could be adopted by commercial laboratories and avoid animal testing. Better detection of the pathogen in the environment will allow improved assessment of pathogen exposure and risk factors for disease. In turn, better disease prevention measures may be possible.
The University of Arizona was awarded $690,000 from the Arizona Disease Control Research Commission (ADCRC) for a three year Integrated Epidemiological Study of Valley Fever. This multidisciplinary research involves researchers from four colleges and six departments within the University and collaboration with the Valley Fever Center for Excellence and use of its BL3 laboratory at the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System (aka, Tucson VA Medical Center).

(More questions about valley fever? Please contact the
Valley Fever Center for Excellence directly.)