St. George’s growth is kicking up the fungus that causes valley fever

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

There’s a harmful fungus lurking in the dirt around St. George. It enters people’s lungs when it becomes airborne, causing valley fever.

The fungus isn’t like the apocalyptic zombie strain made popular by the TV show and video game “The Last of Us.” But if left untreated, valley fever can still lead to hospitalization and even death, according to infectious disease specialist Ginamarie Foglia.

“Many people don’t know what valley fever is,” the adjunct professor at Rocky Vista University College of Medicine in Ivins said. “People have to be aware when there’s dirt in the air and it’s being moved, they are at risk.”

And that’s a problem in fast-growing Washington County.

As development gobbles up more and more previously undisturbed desert landscapes, excavators and bulldozers are kicking that fungus into the air.

Construction workers may be the most vulnerable. And that becomes a health justice issue, University of Utah epidemiologist Katharine Walter said, because many of those workers may not have medical insurance or access to a doctor.

When the wind carries the dust, plenty of other people in the community are at risk, too.

“This major excavation of soil that is happening right now to create luxury developments, to create golf courses — that is also creating tremendous dust exposures,” Walter said.

The main way to mitigate the spread of construction dust is to spray it with water, which is a resource already in short supply in St. George.

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