from Hacker News

All That Rain Is Driving Up Cases of a Deadly Fungal Disease in California

by sylvainkalache on 2/18/24, 5:56 PM with 1 comments

  • by MilnerRoute on 2/18/24, 7:34 PM

    I'm trying to get a sense of how common this is. In California, for the whole year of 2023, there were 9,280 cases, according to the article. But...

    The majority of people who contract valley fever - some 60 percent - will never know they crossed paths with killer spores, because their immune system is able to rapidly vanquish the fungal intruder.

    Whereas "between 1% and 5%" reach a stage with multiple serious symptoms (which can include death) -- so, between 92 and 460 Californians. But no stats on what subset of those numbers end up as fatalities.

    Among the whole U.S. population of 331 million people, "approximately" 200 die annually from the disease. (Which I believe comes out to .00006042296 percent).

    Still, I guess the larger point stands. Climate-induced weather changes could bring numerous unintended side effects, which include increased prevalence of some diseases.