Valley Fever: The deadly and incurable disease terrifying the west coast

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Sarris Baker sat by her daughter’s hospital bed, held her hand, and asked the question she most feared: “Honey, do you want to keep fighting?” For seven years Cheyenne Baker had been in and out of hospital, after receiving a diagnosis of Valley Fever – a fungal disease which attacks the lungs, caused by the inhalation of airborne spores. open image in gallery Cheyenne Baker died on 13 April 2018, just shy of her 27th birthday UCLA Health clinical microbiologist Dr Shaun Yang predicts that due to the climate crisis and global heating, the currently endemic fungus will become “more widespread and cause more infections.” Though public discussion about the dangers of the disease – which is incurable – may be relatively recent, concerns have been raised for over two decades, with an Arizona Senate health committee hearing in 2003 that Valley Fever could be used “as an agent of bioterrorism”. open image in gallery Cheyenne Baker’s son, Eli, was born extremely early “Something drastic was happening inside of me, and I didn’t know what it was,” Sharon told The Independent. open image in gallery Shirley Paulson says a simple blood test would have caught her Valley Fever early, and spared her her ordeal “A simple blood test would have determined that I had Valley Fever, and I wouldn’t have gone into a coma, I wouldn’t have lost five months of my life, and I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in.