Harold Pierce

Valley fever infects more than 13,000 people annually in Arizona and California, killing more than 100. Yet they spend less annually on public awareness.

Seven-year-old Reba Dimeglio remembers her mother defying evacuation orders to protect her house, armed with nothing more than a green garden hose in her fight to save their home, outlined in an orange glow.

In some of Kern County’s poorest, majority-white communities, people are dying four to 17 years before those in other parts of Bakersfield, Calif. Life expectancies are on par with less-developed countries like Iraq and Kazakhstan.

Valley fever killed six residents in 2016 and infected 1,905 others, a 62 percent surge over the number infected the year prior.

The bill would bring $2 million to an already-established state fund for valley fever vaccine research and create guidelines for how local, state and federal agencies report cases.

A Phoenix-based laboratory is capturing detailed images of the fungus that causes valley fever, hoping to better understand how it works.

When Juan Solis shuffles out of his dark bedroom, he’s careful not to get too close to the windows because Solis has extreme light sensitivity caused by valley fever.

Valley fever is a fungal respiratory infection that is a constant health threat in vast stretches of the San Joaquin valley. 

“Valley fever is almost certainly underreported, due to physicians and the public not being familiar with the disease,” said one infectious disease specialist. Reliable estimates of valley fever...