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Evaluating the Potential of Dust Emission from Growth Sites of Coccidioides Immitis

We are integrating research on the soil occurrences of the pathogen responsible for valley fever with our studies of the conditions that promote dust emission. Maps showing the favorableness for occurrence of C. immitis will be overlain in GIS with maps showing wind-erosion potential for dust emission. When a combined map of C. immitis occurrence and potential dust generation are linked with climatic information favorable for fungal activity, we can assess the potential for future dust emissions from areas that harbor this pathogen. Such areas can then be monitored for dust events and transport pathways that might affect human populations. Project scientists have identified an area between Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona for initial study.

If such conditions are discovered, we will alert the local medical community via our collaborators. Another objective is to provide a template for future development of generalized models for the distribution, transport, and deposition of disease-causing organisms in the western U.S.

Collaborations are in place with the medical community and climatologists to link the geologic, atmospheric, and epidemiological elements of future outbreaks of valley fever. Another goal is to develop generalized models for the distribution, airborne transport, and deposition of disease-causing organisms in the western U.S. This investigation is important for human health issues with respect to natural processes as well as issues of National security with respect to threats of atmospheric transport of biologic weapons.