Wait, are we about to experience ‘The Last of Us’ IRL? Music festival in California leads to 19 people hospitalized with fungal lung infection.

At this point our generation has been through so many “apocalypse” level events that it’s barely worth reporting on any more. Ever since Covid came along and sucked the joy out of life it feels like we’ve just been waiting for the next disease to come along and finish the human race for good.

We’ve had new strains of Covid, we’ve had monkey-pox, and now there’s people in California being hospitalized with a fungal lung infection. If humanity doesn’t wipe itself out first, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before some virus, parasite or fungus does it for us. So what’s the deal, are we going to have The Last of Us style cordyceps infected running around the streets of L.A. this fall? What exactly is this disturbing infection and how dangerous is it?

According to an article from ABC News, as of August 21st, at least 19 people have tested positive for an illness known as “Valley fever.” These people all attended or worked at an event called the “Lightning in a Bottle” festival back in May and at least eight of these individuals have been hospitalized.

Valley fever explained

The scientific name for this infection is Coccidioidomycosis, that’s quite the mouthful so I think we’ll stick to calling it Valley fever for now. Anyways, it’s essentially a lung infection that comes about from breathing in spores of a certain fungus known as Coccidioides. It is commonly found in dry soil where the temperature is quite high and the rainfall is low, so states like California, Arizona, and Nevada are natural habitats for the fungus.

The location where the festival was held just so happened to be a hotspot for Coccidioides and although it wasn’t held during a seasonal peak, a study from the University of California found that Valley fever cases have been on the rise over the last 20 years. This could be due to the earth’s rising temperature leading to more droughts. When the soil is dry, the spores from the fungus can become airborne, being inhaled by anyone unlucky enough to be passing by.

It’s also important to note that this isn’t a new type of infection, it’s been around for a while – according to kernpublichealth.com, the first case of Valley fever was reported by an Argentinian soldier back in 1892.

What are the symptoms of Valley fever?

Those infected may start to experience symptoms after about 7-21 days. The symptoms (just to name a few) include coughing, headaches, fever, shortness of breath, and aches and pains in the joints and muscles. However, in many cases, people won’t notice anything at all – the CDC website states that only 40% of those infected will develop symptoms.

For most, Valley fever will clear up itself in a few weeks or a month. However, 5%-10% of cases are more severe, leading to chronic lung diseases which could eventually lead to death. In about 1% of cases it can also lead to meningitis and the fungus can even spread to parts of the body outside of the lungs.

Of course, for the more severe cases there are antifungal treatments that can be administered, so hopefully the 19 hospitalized people are receiving proper care. Also, the infection can’t be spread from person to person, so we likely won’t have a pandemic on our hands here either. Coccidioidomycosis may sound like a nasty and scary infection, but we can at least rest easy knowing that it’s not going to bring about the end of the human race… for now.