Earthquake-Ridden Area in USA Contains Coccidioides , the Valley Fever Pathogen
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Ó 2020 EcoHealth Alliance
Short Communication
Earthquake-Ridden Area in USA Contains Coccidioides, the Valley Fever Pathogen Antje Lauer,1 Jocelyne Lopez,1 Stephanie Abarca,1 and Jasmeet Bains2 1
Department of Biology, California State University Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022 Omni Family Health Clinic, Taft Health Center, 4th Street, Taft, CA 93268
2
Abstract: Early July 2019, two major earthquakes occurred in the Mojave Desert of California near the city of Ridgecrest and the community of Trona and generated a large dust plume that lingered for days. The earthquakes hit an area endemic for Coccidioides, a soil-borne fungal pathogen that can become airborne when soil is disturbed and typically manifests as a pulmonary disease when inhaled. This study is the first to confirm the presence of Coccidioides in soils near Trona using a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach. First responders to earthquake events, the public, and physicians in the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert should be informed about the risk of pathogen exposure during and after the time of an earthquake, since there are many fault lines in addition to the large San Andreas Fault and future earthquakes in this region are expected to occur. Keywords: Coccidioidomycosis, Coccidioides, Earthquake, Soil, Dust, Mojave Desert, Diagnostic PCR
INTRODUCTION Parts of the Central Valley and the Mojave Desert of California are endemic to the fungal pathogen Coccidioides immitis, which is adapted to the Lower Sonoran Lifezone (Daubenmire 1938). During the dry season, Coccidioides survive in the form of barrel-shaped arthroconidia that can easily be disrupted and become airborne when soil is disturbed by human activities, burrowing animals, high winds, or natural disasters, such as earthquakes. Coccidioides
Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (https://doi. org/10.1007/s10393-020-01485-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Correspondence to: Antje Lauer, e-mail: [email protected]
arthroconidia are approximately 2–5 lm in length, which is small enough to remain suspended in the air for hours to days and to be inhaled into the lungs where an infection called coccidioidomycosis may result (Kirkland and Fierer 1996). Although about 60% of infections are asymptomatic, and most other patients experience self-limited influenza-like symptoms, rashes, and fatigue (Saubolle et al. 2007), some patients develop more severe symptoms that can lead to dissemination to skin, bone, and meninges of the brain. Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley fever, is believed to be profoundly underdiagnosed and its impact on lost productivity grossly underappreciated (Thompson et al. 2015). Historical evidence exists that coccidioidomycosis can be contracted from dust plumes generated in an endemic area of the pathogen. The Ridgecrest area is known for
A. Lauer et al.
frequent earthquakes because it is located near Garlock fault. Other major earthquakes in the
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