Valley Fever Outbreak
An unusual effect of the Northridge earthquake was an outbreak of coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever), a respiratory disease caused by inhaling airborne spores. The number of cases (203) in Ventura County was roughly 10 times the normal rate in the eight weeks following the earthquake and three people died. It is thought that the spores were carried in large clouds of dust created by seismically triggered landslides. Most of the cases occurred immediately downwind of the landslides.
Read more about this topic: 1994 Northridge Earthquake
Famous quotes containing the words valley and/or fever:
“I will frankly declare, that after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas, I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever before entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew of a man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men has nearly overturned all my previous theories.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
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—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)