: [Stop the Poisons] VALLEY FEVER & PRISON

[Guest guest]

>Infection Hits a California Prison Hard

>

>By JESSE McKINLEY

>Published: December 30, 2007

>COALINGA, Calif. — When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley

>State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think

>flu, bronchitis or even the common cold.

>They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they

>are right.

>In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have

>contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both

>widespread and lethal.

>At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from

>the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including

>Arizona, where the health department declared an epidemic after more

>than 5,500 cases were reported in 2006, including 33 deaths.

>Endemic to parts of the Southwest, valley fever has been reported in

>recent years in a widening belt from South Texas to Northern

>California. The disease has infected archaeologists digging at the

>Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and dogs that have inhaled the

>spores while sniffing for illegal drugs along the Mexican border.

>In most cases, the infection starts in the lungs and is usually

>handled by the body without permanent damage. But serious

>complications can arise, including meningitis; and, at Pleasant

>Valley, the scope of the outbreak has left some inmates permanently

>disabled, confined to wheelchairs and interned in expensive long-term

>hospital stays.

>About 80 prison employees have also contracted the fever, Pleasant

>Valley officials say, including a corrections officer who died of the

>disease in 2005.

>What makes the disease all the more troubling is that its cause is

>literally underfoot: the spores that cause the infection reside in

>the region's soil. When that soil is disturbed, something that

>happens regularly where houses are being built, crops are being sown

>and a steady wind churns, those spores are inhaled. The spores can

>also be kicked up by Mother Nature including earthquakes and dust

>storms.

> " It doesn't matter whether you're custody staff, it doesn't matter if

>you're a plumber or an electrician, " said James A. Yates, the warden

>at Pleasant Valley. " You breathe the same air as you walk around out

>there. "

>The epidemic at the prison has led to a clash of priorities for a

>correctional system that is dealing with below average medical care

>and chronic overcrowding.

>Last fall, heeding advice from local health officials and a federal

>receiver charged with improving the state's prison medical care, the

>Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation delayed plans to add 600

>new beds out of concern that the construction might stir up more

>spores.

>Officials at the prison blame the construction of a state hospital

>nearby for causing a spike in valley fever. The construction was

>under way from 2001 to 2005, and valley fever hit its peak here in

>2006, when the disease was diagnosed in 514 inmates.

>This year, about 300 cases have been diagnosed among inmates at the

>prison, which sits along a highway lined with almond groves and signs

>advertising new " semi-custom homes. " Felix Igbinosa, the prison's

>medical director, said " the No. 1 reason " was thought to be the soil

>disturbance from new construction.

>The delayed expansion here was part of a $7.9 billion plan signed by

>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last summer to relieve overcrowding in the

>state's prisons. Pleasant Valley was built in 1994 to house 2,000

>inmates.

>California reported more than 3,000 cases of valley fever in 2006,

>the most in a decade. Explanations for the spike have included

>increased residential development and changes in weather patterns

>that have resulted in increased blooms of the fungus.

>Other prisons in the Central Valley of California have had increases

>in the number of fever cases in recent years, but in none has the

>rate of infection been higher than at Pleasant Valley, where about

>one inmate in 10 tested positive in 2006.

>Even allowing for the nearby construction, experts say they do not

>know why the disease is so rampant here.

> " Is the soil surrounding Pleasant Valley different? " asked Dr.

>Demosthenes Pappagianis of the University of California, Davis.

> " There's a lot we still need to know about it, " said Dr. Pappagianis,

>a professor of medical microbiology and immunology who has been

>studying valley fever for more than 50 years.

>Early symptoms of the disease, which is clinically known as

>coccidioidomycosis, mimic the flu, with symptoms that include a

>cough, lethargy and a fever. Most of those who become infected

>recover with little or no treatment and are subsequently immune.

>In about 2 percent to 3 percent of the cases, the disease spreads

>from the lungs and can attack the bones, liver, spleen and skin.

>For the 11,000 non-inmate residents of Coalinga, about 200 miles

>southeast of San Francisco, the disease has been a fact of life for

>generations. " We just deal, " said Trish Hill, the city's mayor. " You

>don't do stupid things like go out on windy days or dig in the dirt. "

>Inmates appear to be especially susceptible to the disease, in part

>because they come from areas all over the state and have not

>developed an immunity to the disease. California corrections

>officials are preparing new guidelines for prison design, including

>ventilation and landscaping.

> " Prisons tend to have a lot of bare dirt, and that has some security

>benefit, " said Deborah Hysen, the corrections department's deputy

>secretary of facility planning. " But in the case of valley fever, you

>want to really contain the soil. "

>At Pleasant Valley, officials say the outbreak of valley fever places

>a burden on the institution, requiring guards to escort inmates to

>local hospitals, where stays can last months and result in medical

>and security costs of $1 million and more, said Dr. Igbinosa, the

>medical director.

>The disease also affects inmate morale, doctors say.

>Gilbert Galaviz was convicted of murder and is serving a sentence of

>25 years to life. Mr. Galaviz had been at Pleasant Valley for a week

>or so when he started to feel sick. " I couldn't breathe, " he

>said. " My chest starting hurting, I had pain all over like somebody

>beat me up, and I would sweat bad at night. "

>The cause was valley fever. After six months, Mr. Galaviz is still

>weak, having lost 30 pounds, and is barely able to complete a lap in

>the prison yard. Earlier this month, he was attacked and his jaw

>broken.

> " It wouldn't have been like that if it hadn't been for valley fever, "

>Mr. Galaviz said, his jaw still wired shut. " They wouldn't have got

>me. It would have been the other way around. "

 

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