In Kern County, Valley Fever has been on the rise. In 2023, Kern County Public Health reported 3,153 cases of Valley Fever in Kern County. Which is nearly a 24% increase from the cases reported in 2022.
Valley Fever is a disease caused by the fungi of the genus Coccidioides An infection occurs when a person inhales the spores of a fungus. Valley fever cannot be spread from person to person, it can only be picked up from the environment, according to Kern Public Health officials.
One Kern County resident, Miranda Vasquez wanted to share her story on how Valley Fever affected her life for the past eight years:
Vasquez’s story
Miranda Vasquez, who was born and raised in Kern County, was 22 when she was initially diagnosed with Valley Fever and after eight years she is still dealing with the problems of the fungal infection.
Before Vasquez was diagnosed she first thought she had a regular cold. Her doctors thought her symptoms were due to her history with asthma so their reaction was just to give her an inhaler and a Z-Pak and send her on her way.
“But after a couple of months of it not going away, the doctor started having me do breathing treatments. I was going in weekly but [I wasn’t] getting better,” Vasquez said.
After realizing what she had was Valley Fever, Vasquez was soon hospitalized. The day she was hospitalized she texted her mom something felt wrong.
“I lived by myself. Luckily I sent that text message to my mom. She sent my little sister to go and check on me. And luckily she did because I was actually suffocating, the hospital said.” Vasquez continued, “They said that the fungus initially started to grow because of the inhaler that I was using every day. It made it grow faster.”
By the time Vasquez made it to the hospital, the Valley Fever had settled into her lungs and was about 70 to 85 percent full of fungus.
Unfortunately, Vasquez ended up being taken out of work for an entire year and it took her about two years to fully recover.
“I lost a lot of weight during that time because I wasn’t really eating and I wasn’t able to be super active because just walking from the bedroom to the kitchen was a real chore. So it was a lot of small victories that you had to make it to,” Vasquez said.
While recovering Vasquez had to learn how to breathe deeply again, due to the loss of lung capacity she had to take physical therapy for her lungs. She also had to slowly gain back her strength because simple everyday tasks made her fatigued for the rest of the day.
The second time Vasquez was hospitalized was when COVID brought up her Valley Fever again at the end of 2021.
Vasquez explained the symptoms were the same when she was first hospitalized but this time “it felt even worse.”
“I was a little older than what I was when I was 22. This is the second time my body has gone through it. So it was a lot harder for me. I was taken off of work again and had to stay another two weeks at the hospital. They almost put me on a ventilator.”
The lung capacity that she had was almost non-existent and her lungs sounded like popcorn whenever she took a breath, she said. Vasquez again had a lot of trouble getting her oxygen level up but this time ended up having a lot of memory loss due to the lack of oxygen that was going into her brain.
“That was a hard two weeks because I was isolated,” she said. “This one was a lot harder because of the trauma that had gone to my body. So I actually started losing hair significantly. I lost about 75 to 80 percent of my hair.”
Although this time took another two years to recover for Vasquez, her doctors were surprised about her fast progress.
“I did push myself, I think a little bit more than what they would have recommended. I was very determined to be independent just because that’s the kind of a person that I am,” she said.
Today Vasquez shared she still deals with the side effects and her doctors tell her to be careful on catching a common cold because even that can bring up her Valley Fever again. Because if it is severe enough, the third time would be even worse on her body.
“It was a scary thing in my life and it happened twice. I would never wish that on my worst enemy because it’s a really, really hard thing to live through and to go through,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez confessed she didn’t even know that Valley Fever was a thing until after she had it. So her goal is to educate people, especially in Kern County.
To help prevent Valley Fever Kern Public Health advises people to not go outside if it’s windy or dusty. If someone is driving through a windstorm, they should turn their car aircon recirculation so that they won’t get the outdoor air inside. And if someone is sensitive to the air they recommend that people wear respiratory protection.
For more information and resources on Valley Fever visit the Kern Public Health website.
