Shiloh
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Source: https://www.bakersfield.com/delano-...cle_0d5f6a6a-28b5-11e9-a033-c7e9bf33ca6e.html
Among the hidden victims of valley fever: domesticated dogs
By SAM MORGEN The Record 12 hrs ago
Valley fever infects thousands of people in Kern County each year, but thousands of other cases could be flying under the radar.
Animals, too, can contract the respiratory disease, but the problem remains largely unstudied in Bakersfield, despite the region's status as one of the hottest valley fever regions in the country.
?There is no good information out there about how many animals get valley fever,? said Lisa Shubitz, a research scientist at the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona. ?It?s not reported.?
Shubitz and the Tucson university conducted one of the only studies ever done on valley fever in animals. The university found that from 6 percent to 10 percent of dogs in the three most populous counties of Arizona become sick with valley fever each year.
?That?s a lot of dogs,? she said. ?That?s a lot of money.?
The study estimated that Arizonans spend $60 million a year caring for dogs with valley fever.
Experts in Bakersfield know that animals in Kern County also become infected each year, but the extent of the problem is not known...
Among the hidden victims of valley fever: domesticated dogs
By SAM MORGEN The Record 12 hrs ago
Valley fever infects thousands of people in Kern County each year, but thousands of other cases could be flying under the radar.
Animals, too, can contract the respiratory disease, but the problem remains largely unstudied in Bakersfield, despite the region's status as one of the hottest valley fever regions in the country.
?There is no good information out there about how many animals get valley fever,? said Lisa Shubitz, a research scientist at the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona. ?It?s not reported.?
Shubitz and the Tucson university conducted one of the only studies ever done on valley fever in animals. The university found that from 6 percent to 10 percent of dogs in the three most populous counties of Arizona become sick with valley fever each year.
?That?s a lot of dogs,? she said. ?That?s a lot of money.?
The study estimated that Arizonans spend $60 million a year caring for dogs with valley fever.
Experts in Bakersfield know that animals in Kern County also become infected each year, but the extent of the problem is not known...