The California Department of Public Health says that several people who went to Lightning in a Bottle near Bakersfield got a deadly fungal illness.
As of August 21, at least 19 confirmed cases of valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, had been found among event goers and workers, with eight people needing to be hospitalized.
For its 16th year, the show took place at Buena Vista Lake in Kern County from May 22–27 and drew about 20,000 people.
The department says that valley fever is a disease that is spread by a fungus that lives in the dirt and earth in some parts of California and the southwestern United States.
People get the infection when they breathe in fungus spores from dirt and dust in the air outside. It’s hard to avoid taking in dust.
Since the fever is mostly in the lungs, it causes breathing problems like coughing, fever, chest pain, and tiredness.
To avoid getting sick, the department tells people to stay away from dusty areas, close their doors and windows when it’s windy, wear N95 respirators to protect themselves from dust, and stay away from activities outside that stir up dust or dirt.