FRESNO (KMJ) — More than $5 million dollars is set to be spent on screening prison inmates for a potentially deadly disease.
Officials are testing inmates to see whether or not they've had valley fever.
It's caused by a fungus which grows naturally in Central Valley soil – and other dry areas of the country.
The tests are designed to determine which prisoners have already had it – as they're considered largely immune from getting it again. they're then safe to be transferred to prisons near Fresno.
Doctor John Galgiani specializes in valley fever in Arizona. The Grand Canyon state accounts for two thirds of all reported cases.
"I think suddenly people realized this was an ongoing problem," said Dr. John Galgiani, the director of the Valley Fever Center at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.
Arizona accounts for 66% of valley fever cases. Many show no symptoms.
"But a small percentage of people get really serious problems, when the fungus either doesn't go away in your lungs, or it moves through the blood stream to other parts of the body, like the brain or bones or the skin," Galgiani says.
It can spread to the brain, bones, skin and eyes – leading to blindness, lung failure, and even death.
In 2013 – four California inmates died because of exposure to valley fever – and almost 200 prisoners were diagnosed with it.
