Publication: USA Today

UCLA Expert: Manish Butte: Professor, Department of Pediatrics; E. Richard Stiehm Endowed Chair, Department of Pediatrics; Division Chief, Immunology, Allergy, and Rheumatology

Synopsis:  Health experts say one fungal pathogen  may become more prevalent due to climate change — valley fever.

UCLA News: The infection is endemic in the Southwest, with most people experiencing mild to no symptoms, Butte said. But there is a small subset of people where the fungus “spreads rapidly and destructively throughout the body,” eating flesh for nutrition, he said. “If it spreads to the brain or spinal cord, about 40% of the people die," he said. This process can take up to two weeks from exposure. About 200 people die from Valley fever each year, the CDC reports. It’s unclear why only a fraction of people exposed to the fungal spores develop severe disease but Butte's research suggests it may have something to do with an individual's immune system. "We still find a number of patients where we don’t have a good clue for them, and that’s where immunologists like me try to get involved and try to understand from genetic tests," he said. 

Read more at USA Today.