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   Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:42 JST Daniel Swain

   Out today: a brief piece in JAMA, targeted primarily toward raising awareness among clinicians, on rising incidence of #coccidioidomycosis ("valley fever" illness caused by Coccidioides fungus) in western U.S. amid a warming #climate. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2830685

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     Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:40 JST Daniel Swain

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     Since fungus grows best in wet conditions, but aerosolizes & spreads in dry ones, rapid transitions between wet &dry are arguably the "worst climate for cocci." Well, as I've recently discussed, increasing hydroclimate whiplash is precisely what we expect: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-024-00624-z

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     Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:41 JST Daniel Swain

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     Coccidioidomycosis, which can become a serious and systemic/chronic condition in some (but not all) affected, is widely under-diagnosed (by factor of 10 or more), and incidence has sharply increased in recent years (especially in California). https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2830685

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     Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:41 JST Daniel Swain

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     This increase is likely due to a combination of factors, including increased clinician awareness (and thus confirmatory diagnoses), but there also appears to be a true increase in actual human infections as well.
     https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2830685

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     Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:41 JST Daniel Swain

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     The causative fungal organism typically thrives when soil conditions transition rapidly from wet-to-dry states, favoring a so-called "grow and blow" cycle wherein fungus first grows in damp soil then is aerosolized during windy conditions once soil dries, & humans inhale spores.

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     Daniel Swain (weatherwest@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 04:40:41 JST Daniel Swain

     in reply to

     Surface soils in the western U.S. have already become drier, on average & in the extremes, due to higher temperatures and increased "air thirstiness" (evaporative demand) caused by #ClimateChange. That alone might expand cocci endemicity, but there may be another factor at play.

     Steve's Place repeated this.