SIMI VALLEY : Health Agency to Test 500 for Valley Fever

A team of physicians with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local public health officials have begun testing Simi Valley residents for valley fever.

The CDC epidemiologists hope to test as many as 500 residents as part of a study aimed at determining how many people have come in contact with the disease.

Since the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake, about 170 cases of valley fever have been reported in Ventura County and at least half of those have been in Simi Valley, public health officials said.

Valley fever, clinically known as Coccidiodomycocis, is spread by a fungus found in the soil. Health experts have speculated that Ventura County residents inhaled fungus-laden dust that was kicked up by the earthquake.

The CDC and Ventura County Health Department have notified about 300 randomly selected Simi Valley residents by mail, and planned to send out an additional 200 letters Monday, CDC physician Rana Hajjeh said.

The letters request that residents make voluntary appointments at the public health office in Simi Valley to be tested for valley fever, Hajjeh said.

A skin test will determine if an individual has ever been infected with valley fever. Sixty percent of those who contract the illness develop no symptoms, which makes determining infection rates difficult.

“It tells you if you’ve ever had valley fever before, even without knowing it,” Hajjeh said. The people who have positive skin tests will be asked to take a blood test that will determine when they were infected.

“We need all age groups, but we definitely need more people between 10 and 20,” she said. “We also need people in their 40s and 60s.”

Three physicians with the CDC and 10 to 20 nurses will conduct the tests throughout the week. The CDC expects to have initial results from the tests in a few weeks.