The Changing Epidemiology of Coccidioidomycosis in Los Angeles (LA) County, California, 1973–2011.
Open accessAbstract
Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever, is often thought of as an endemic disease of central California exclusive of Los Angeles County. The fungus that causes Valley Fever, Coccidioides spp., grows in previously undisturbed soil of semi-arid and arid environments of certain areas of the Americas. LA County has a few large areas with such environments, particularly the Antelope Valley which has been having substantial land development. Coccidioidomycosis that is both clinically- and laboratory-confirmed is a mandated reportable disease in LA County. Population surveillance data for 1973-2011 reveals an annual rate increase from 0.87 to 3.2 cases per 100,000 population (n = 61 to 306 annual cases). In 2004, case frequency started substantially increasing with notable epidemiologic changes such as a rising 2.1 to 5.7 male-to-female case ratio stabilizing to 1.4-2.2. Additionally, new building construction in Antelope Valley greatly rose in 2003 and displayed a strong correlation (R = 0.92, Pearson p<0.0001) with overall LA County incidence rates for 1996-2007. Of the 24 LA County health districts, 19 had a 100%-1500% increase in cases when comparing 2000-2003 to 2008-2011. Case residents of endemic areas had stronger odds of local exposures, but cases from areas not known to be endemic had greater mortality (14% versus 9%) with notably more deaths during 2008-2011. Compared to the 57 other California counties during 2001-2011, LA County had the third highest average annual number of cases and Antelope Valley had a higher incidence rate than all but six counties. With the large number of reported coccidioidomycosis cases, multi-agency and community partnering is recommended to develop effective education and prevention strategies to protect residents and travelers.
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In coccidioidomycosis surveillance in California (1973 to 2011), the increase in incidence followed different environmental exposures, including occupational exposures such as construction and agriculture, regardless of the population's racial and ethnic groups.
“Such a hypothesis was explored in coccidioidomycosis surveillance in California (1973 to 2011) that showed the increase in the incidence of coccidioidomycosis followed different environmental exposures, including occupational exposures such as construction and agriculture, regardless of the population’s racial and ethnic groups [139].”
From Race and ethnicity: Risk factors for fungal infections? (2023) · cites this paper as [139]
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Race and ethnicity: Risk factors for fungal infections?
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- Authors
- Guevara, R. E., Motala, T., & Terashita, D.
- Affiliations
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Guevara, Ramon E.
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2015-08-27
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- e0136753
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4551673
- OpenAlex
- W1935547708
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 2.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- California Department of Public Health
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Fungal Infections and Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Microbiology › Actinomycetales infections and treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Sarcoidosis and Beryllium Toxicity Research
- Keywords
- coccidioidomycosis, Coccidioides, Los Angeles County, Antelope Valley, incidence trends, sex ratio, building construction, mortality, disease surveillance, prevention education
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, California, Child, Child, Preschool, Coccidioidomycosis, Environmental Exposure, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Population Growth, Young Adult
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