Barker\u2019s research<\/strong><\/p>\n Barker got into Valley fever almost by accident; her husband was accepted into a graduate program at U of A; she looked for a job there and found an opening in a biosafety level (BSL) 3 lab. It would give her skills she\u2019d likely need in future labs and an opportunity to work with interesting organisms.<\/p>\n Her interest in Cocci<\/em> grew as she worked with it, but she picked that fungus for a more personal reason as well: both her husband and her dog suffered severe cases of Valley fever while they lived in Tucson, and unbeknownst to her she picked up the fungus as well. Her husband recovered fully; her dog had a relapse but eventually recovered. Regardless, she\u2019d found her passion.<\/p>\n Even after all these years, though, it remains a tricky disease. Earlier studies showed about 60 percent of infected people showed no symptoms and had no idea they were infected; Barker said the scientific community still feels comfortable with those numbers. The majority of those remaining can get quite sick with pneumonia or severe flulike symptoms but eventually fully recover. Some were correctly diagnosed and treated with antifungal medication; others simply fought it off over time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But a few people get sick and keep getting sicker, sometimes fighting the illness for months at a time. They\u2019re frequently misdiagnosed and sent home with antibiotics or antiviral medication, which in the best cases were ineffective and in the worst cases made the illness worse. One man, the subject of a journal article Barker recently reviewed, was in and out of doctor\u2019s offices for a year with a variety of symptoms. By the time he was correctly diagnosed, the fungus had overwhelmed his body and he died soon after.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had it everywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cHe had it in his lungs, his spleen, his GI tract. It was awful.\u201d<\/p>\n Everything Barker knows about Cocci<\/em> and Valley fever leads her to four possible conclusions: some feature about the fungus itself influences severity of the illness (different strains of Cocci<\/em>, exposure to more spores); some host factor dictates severity (weakened immune system, genetic background); the amount of exposure from the environmental (how many spores a person breathes in); or some combination of the three. Her research centers around those possible outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big, overarching question that drives pretty much everything in my lab is what explains the variation in disease,\u201d Barker said. \u201cWhy do some people get really, really sick and other people seem to have no symptoms?\u201d<\/p>\n Right now in her lab she\u2019s putting fungus and immune cells together to see how they react, which could explain why mammalian lung tissue responds to Cocci<\/em> the way it does: white blood cells rushing to the fungus in attempt to kill it, but dying themselves because the fungal cell is too large or toxic. In a healthy response, this eventually works enough to create a self-contained nodule. When the body doesn\u2019t respond appropriately, though, surrounding tissue starts dying.<\/p>\n Other research includes examining host cells and fungal cells to see if there are different variations of the fungus, missing genes in host cells or some clue that could explain the disparity in Valley fever responses.<\/p>\n She also wants to look at where Cocci<\/em> originates in nature, which requires collecting DNA from dust and soil samples to see if the fungus is present. To do this she and her team will have to collect thousands of samples, preferably from the same 100 or so sites once a month for a year or more. That could tell her if the fungus is more likely to be present in certain seasons or in wetter, dryer, hotter or windier times of the year.<\/p>\n What we know about Valley fever<\/strong><\/p>\n Where it\u2019s found<\/em><\/p>\n Valley fever is named after the San Joaquin Valley in California, but Cocci<\/em> was discovered in the late 1800s in Argentina. It\u2019s found throughout North, Central and South America but nowhere outside the New World. The large majority of reports of either the fungus or Valley fever are in the Sonoran Desert, which includes a sizable chunk of southern Arizona.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s affected<\/em><\/p>\n Research shows all mammals are susceptible. Humans and dogs are the most frequent victims, but scientists have found it in wolves and even dolphins. There have been a few instances of Valley fever in reptiles, but Barker said those were zoo animals, which tend to experience higher stress than animals in the wild, so it was difficult to draw a larger conclusion.<\/p>\n Some causes of the variation in severity<\/em><\/p>\n Scientists can\u2019t fully explain the variation in disease, but they have found some culprits, Barker said. The number of spores a person is exposed to affects the severity of illness. In a lab, mice could shake off exposure to 10 spores but got sicker for longer when exposed to 100 spores. Mice exposed to 1,000 spores died, almost without exception.<\/p>\n People with compromised immune systems also are likelier to get sicker from Valley fever as with most infectious diseases, Barker said. For example, cancer and transplant patients whose immune symptoms have been suppressed to help them fight the initial diseases often can\u2019t mount the immune response needed.<\/p>\n Some knowledge of its history<\/em><\/p>\n Pockets of the fungus found out in nature have been connected to dead and decaying animals below the surface, Barker said. Scientists have found some connections with a group of rodents, although they can\u2019t draw that conclusion with certainty.<\/p>\n What we don\u2019t know about Valley fever<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"NAU's](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/085e64_9eac18657ded41c5a1ccf8515edb092d-mv2-150x150.jpg\")
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