You may have had Valley Fever without realizing it

• In this week's episode of Valley 101, we answer the question: Why is there so much Valley Fever in Arizona?
• Valley Fever is a fungal infection formally known as coccidioidomycosis. Two-thirds of the 500,000 annual infections in the western U.S. occur in Arizona.
• Dr. John Galgiani of the University of Arizona is a leading expert working to increase awareness of the illness.

If you live in Arizona, which you probably do, there's a decent chance that you have heard of Valley Fever.

In fact, there's a decent chance you may have had Valley Fever. Maybe you knew about it, maybe you didn't. It's that kind of illness.

I know. I have had it, and I knew about it. I was laid up for weeks, first being diagnosed with pneumonia and then Valley Fever. It wasn't pleasant, but it did result in the best advice I ever got from a doctor: If you want to take a nap, it doesn't matter what your wife or your kids or your boss says. You need to take a nap.

I'd like a refill on that.

Valley Fever is a lot more serious than it sounds

The thing about Valley Fever is that the name makes it sound less serious than it really is. It is, in fact, a fungal infection, more formally known as coccidioidomycosis. That sounds a lot more serious to me. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimate there are 500,000 infections per year across the western U.S. ― and two-thirds of them occur in Arizona.

Lucky us.

In this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we answer the question: Why is there so much Valley Fever in Arizona?

For answers, we turned to someone who knows. If you're of a certain age, you may remember the show "WKRP in Cincinnati," and the DJ named Dr. Johnny Fever. Well, we talked to Dr. Valley Fever: Dr. John Galgiani, who knows just about all there is to know about Valley Fever. He's a physician who has been at the University of Arizona in the College of Medicine since 1978. He's a professor there, as well as the founding director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence.

"Probably about a third of the population here has had Valley Fever before," he said, "and a bunch of them ― most of them ― actually never got diagnosed, partly because they might not have actually been sick at all, but otherwise because the doctors didn't think to test them."

Galgiani works tirelessly to change that, and to increase awareness about Valley Fever. He's also a really interesting guy to talk to.

Listen to the episode

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This episode was produced by Amanda Luberto and Tori Weiss. You can reach Amanda at [email protected] or follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @amandaluberto. Reach Tori at [email protected].