Latest news with #KernCountyPublicHealth
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mosquito sample with West Nile Virus confirmed in Kern County
The first mosquito sample has been confirmed for West Nile virus in Kern County this year, Kern County Public Health officials said Friday. In a news release, public health said the virus is transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. While many mosquito-borne illnesses such as West Nile virus cause only mild symptoms in most people, the infection can cause severe illness and even death in rare cases. While no human cases have been reported in Kern County this year, Kern County Public Health reminds everyone to take precautions to protect themselves from mosquitoes. Reduce mosquito breeding sites: • Remove standing or stagnate water from containers such flowerpots, fountains, birdbaths, pet bowls and wading pools. • Clean/scrub containers that collect water weekly to remove any potential mosquito eggs. • Maintain swimming pools in working condition. • Stock garden ponds with fish that eat mosquito larvae. •Report areas of mosquito infestation to your local vector control district. Decrease risk of mosquito-transmitted infections: • Avoid mosquitoes and mosquito-infested areas at all times of the day. • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors. • Apply mosquito repellent to exposed skin when outdoors. • Ensure doors and windows have screens in good repair to keep mosquitoes out of your home. Although the first positive mosquito sample has been identified in the 93307 ZIP code, it is important for everyone to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Contact your local mosquito and vector control agency if there is a significant mosquito problem where you live, work, or play. Visit KCPH's West Nile Virus and Other Mosquito-Borne Illnesses regularly updated interactive webpage for more information.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mosquito sample tests positive for West Nile virus in Kern County
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Kern County Public Health officials are urging residents to take steps to prevent becoming the first human case in the county for 2025. On June 13, Kern County Public Health announced the first positive sample of the West Nile virus has been found in a mosquito. There have been no reported cases of a human contracting West Nile virus in the county so far in 2025. The virus is mainly transmitted to people through mosquito bites, officials said. Officials said you can reduce mosquito breeding sites by: Remove standing or stagnate water from containers such flowerpots, fountains, birdbaths, pet bowls, and wading pools. Clean/scrub containers that collect water weekly to remove any potential mosquito eggs. Maintain swimming pools in working condition. Stock garden ponds with fish that eat mosquito larvae. Report areas of mosquito infestation to your local vector control district. You can decrease the risk of mosquito-transmitted infections by: Avoiding mosquitoes and mosquito-infested areas at all times of the day. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors. Apply mosquito repellant to exposed skin when outdoors. Ensure doors and windows have screens in good repair to keep mosquitoes out of your home. Although the first positive mosquito sample has been identified in the 93307 zip code, it is important for everyone to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kern Public Health names June ‘Vector-borne Disease Month'
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — As we head into the summer season, the heat isn't the only issue that Kern County has to deal with. On Wednesday morning, Kern County Public Health launched June as 'Vector-Borne Disease Month,' part of their year-long disease fighters initiative. The health department joined Kern Mosquito and Vector Control District for an open house to discuss awareness and prevention. Mosquitoes can transmit diseases like 'West Nile virus' and 'St. Louis Encephalitis'. Woman arrested after multi-agency pursuit ends with car in orchard Health officials want to remind the public that preventing mosquitoes from breeding and avoiding mosquito bites are the best ways to avoid getting these diseases. 'They can start right at their homes, they can do weekly walkarounds around their yards…make sure there's no standing water,' said Jay Thao, District Manager with Delano Mosquito Abatement District. 'Mosquitos breed in standing water. So any man-made container that can hold water for a week can produce mosquitos. People can just check their yards and tip and toss any standing water.' Although most residents who contract these diseases will show no serious symptoms, a small portion of people can experience serious health complications. You can learn more at the health department's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kern County HIV cases at an all-time high, public health director says, and federal funding cuts could make it worse quickly
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Kern County Public Director Brynn Carrigan says local HIV rates are up significantly. In 2023, the most recent year for which confirmed local HIV numbers are available, 215 Kern County residents were diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That is the highest number of new HIV cases ever, and it represents a 40% increase from just five years prior. Some health experts are saying it could get worse before it gets better because of federal funding cuts. Kern County Public Health Director Brynn Carrigan on challenges the department, and residents could face amid federal funding cuts 'We have more newly diagnosed cases of HIV in Kern County every year than previously,' Carrigan said in an exclusive interview. 'So we're seeing more HIV than we've ever seen before. It's not a disease that's going away. 'I strongly feel that any reduction to services from Kern County Public Health is going to have a negative outcome. Carrigan was referencing a 1-2-3 punch of funding challenges that hit public health this year, including a $10.5 million cut by the federal government, which rescinded a huge grant. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now It's not just a local issue. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that a coalition of HIV prevention organizations and health experts are sounding alarms about sweeping Trump administration cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and surveillance programs. The Foundation for AIDS Research says the cuts could result in 127,000 additional AIDS deaths within five years. Carrigan's complete interview is available at this link. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
California could face another record-breaking year of Valley fever
Brynn Carrigan's headaches started in April 2024. Within a couple of weeks, she was debilitated. Her vomiting exacerbated the excruciating pain in her skull. She spent nearly every hour in bed with the covers pulled over her head, blocking out any sliver of light. Even the clock on her microwave was too much. 'I went from training for a marathon, raising two teenagers and having a job to essentially being bedridden,' said Carrigan, 41, of Bakersfield, California, who works for Kern County Public Health. Her condition continued to get worse and doctors couldn't provide answers — until her third visit to the hospital, when one doctor asked her if she'd had any respiratory symptoms before the headaches started. She had. About a month before the headaches started, Carrigan had what she thought was a typical cold — though she recalled that her cough lingered a bit longer than normal and she went on to develop a rash on her thighs. Both symptoms got better without treatment. These turned out to be key pieces of information. A biopsy of her spinal fluid revealed that Carrigan had coccidioidal meningitis, a rare complication of a fungal infection called Valley fever. 'I knew something was wrong but never in a million years did I think it would be something so serious,' Carrigan said. Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is caused by inhaling coccidioides spores, a type of fungi endemic to the hot, dry climate of the southwestern United States. Climate change is creating drier soils that are inching farther east, expanding the range of the fungi. Valley fever is increasingly being diagnosed outside its usual territory and cases have been rising across the Western U.S. While Arizona still sees the highest number each year, California is closing the gap. From 2000 through 2016, California had 1,500 to 5,500 cases a year. From 2017 through 2023, those numbers jumped to 7,700 to 9,000 annual cases. Preliminary data for 2024 puts the count at more than 12,600 — the highest the state has ever seen and about 3,000 more cases than the previous record, in 2023. Early data shows California is on track for another record-breaking year. Already, the state has logged more than 3,000 confirmed cases of Valley fever statewide, more than there were at the same time last year and nearly double what cases were at this time in 2023. 'There is no question that the number of cases of coccidioidomycosis is enormously higher than before,' said Dr. Royce Johnson, chief of the division of infectious disease and director of the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical in California. 'If you want to see me, right now you'd have to wait until July, and that goes for my colleagues, too.' Carrigan lives in Kern County, a dry, sprawling region that sits between two mountain ranges at the southern end of California's Central Valley. The county has already recorded at least 900 Valley fever cases so far this year and has been ground zero for the fungal infection in the state for the last three years. But the consistently high cases in places like Kern County are not driving the upward trend in California, said Gail Sondermeyer Cooksey, an epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health. Instead, new hot spots are emerging along the edges of the Central Valley — in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, along California's central coast. Cases in Contra Costa County, just east of Berkeley, have tripled so far this year compared with the same time in 2023. 'It appears to be spreading out,' Sondermeyer Cooksey said. Many factors likely influence how well coccidioides spores multiply and spread, 'but one thing we have identified as a big driver of those peaks and dips is drought,' she said. A 2022 study in The Lancet Planetary Health found that drought years suppress Valley fever cases, but multiple years of drought followed by a wet winter causes cases to rebound sharply. This shift in weather patterns, which is driven by climate change, appears to largely influence where new Valley fever hot spots emerge. Longer, drier summers can also shift transmission season, when the spores spread, from late summer and early winter to earlier in the year. 'We're seeing wetter wets and drier dries across the Southwest, but California is seeing that to a higher degree,' said Jennifer Head, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, who studies Valley fever and climate change. In Arizona, new hot spots are popping up in places in the state that have a climate more similar to California's than elsewhere in Arizona. 'The highest increases in Arizona are in the northern plateau regions, which, similar to California, have historically been colder and wetter,' Head said. The climate patterns expanding Valley fever's range in California are the same ones that drive increasingly intense wildfires. Scientists are still trying to understand how fires may worsen Valley fever risk, but some research has shown a link between wildfire smoke and higher rates of diagnoses. Sondermeyer Cooksey said the state health department warned first responders to January's devastating fires in Los Angeles County of the potentially increased risk of Valley fever in the area because of the fires. There have been past outbreaks among wildland firefighters. There's some limited evidence that wildfires may spread the coccidioides spores. In a 2023 study, researchers looked at 19 fires across California and observed higher rates of Valley fever following three of those fires. These fires tended to be larger, located near population centers and burned areas that had high Valley fever transmission prior to the fire. 'It's not entirely clear whether there is a link between wildfires and Valley fever, but what is important to know is that coccidioides live in the dirt and anything that disturbs the dirt can exacerbate Valley fever,' Sondermeyer Cooksey said. 'Fires do that, then we have all of the reconstruction projects that also disturb soil.' Peak Valley fever season hasn't happened yet this year. Because reconstruction efforts are disturbing soil in the burn scar, Sondermeyer Cooksey said state and local public health departments 'are closely tracking the numbers' in areas hit by January's fires. Diagnosing Valley fever is tricky, mostly because its symptoms overlap with other respiratory illnesses including flu, Covid and pneumonia. If someone experiences those symptoms, it's important for them to let their doctor know if they've been around disturbed soil or dust — in a construction zone, camping, hiking, working outside or at a festival — or in an area known to have Valley fever, Sondermeyer Cooksey said. Symptoms typically show up one to three weeks after exposure, but it can take as long as eight weeks, so people may not make an immediate connection, Head, of the University of Michigan, said. Last year, at least 19 people who attended the Lightning in a Bottle music festival — which is being held in Kern County again this month — were diagnosed with Valley fever later in the summer. At least eight were hospitalized. 'Lightning in a Bottle is right in the middle of the endemic region, that's one of the hot spots for the disease,' said Dr. George Thompson, director of the Center for Valley Fever at the University of California, Davis, adding that the vast majority of people who attend will not get an infection, but people who aren't from an endemic area may be at higher risk. Thompson said it's clear that he and his colleagues across the state are treating more patients for the infection. Only about 1% of cases result in life-threatening meningitis or other complications, as Carrigan's did, but once a person is infected, they never clear the fungus from their body. 'There is no drug that kills cocci, so what keeps you from being ill is your immune response,' Johnson, of Kern Medical, said. To treat the infection, people are given antifungals 'long enough for a person's immune system to figure out how to control it. If you then do something to disrupt that immunity, it can start growing again, and that can surface years later,' he said. Carrigan spent the last year on an intense regimen of anti-fungal treatments. During the first few months, she lost most of her hair and eyelashes and barely recognized herself in the mirror. She's now made a full recovery and even ran a marathon this spring, but she still takes anti-fungal medication. Carrigan said she wants more people to understand both the warning signs of Valley fever and the importance of telling their doctor if they've been somewhere with cases, which could help people get a faster diagnosis. 'Even if it's only 1% of cases, as we see cases increase, the number of people who experience complications is going to rise, too,' she said. This article was originally published on
