BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – Medical researchers have developed effective vaccines for cholera, typhoid, polio and other debilitating and deadly ailments. But still not that airborne fungus known as Valley Fever. Why is that?

Valley fever is still a thing around here, you may ask? Sure is -- and it’s getting worse of late -- according to the Kern County Department of Public Health.

“Earlier this year, we reported the highest number of valley fever cases on record, 3,990 cases in 2024,” Public Health Director Brynn Carrigan announced at a press conference in early August. “That's a 14% increase over our previous record in 2019 and a 27% increase from 2023.”

49 local people died last year from valley fever, also a record.

But how do public health officials get that across?

With the help

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