{"id":65897,"date":"2022-04-14T08:55:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=65897"},"modified":"2022-04-14T08:55:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:55:13","slug":"valley-fever-collaborative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/valley-fever-collaborative\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU researchers part of statewide Valley Fever Collaborative awarded $3M in research funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>The Valley Fever Collaborative, a University of Arizona Health Sciences-led partnership with Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University, was awarded $3.1 million in funding by the Arizona Board of Regents to start an integrated, statewide research project to identify, characterize and map hotspots and routes of exposure for Valley fever, an important public health and economic problem in the Southwest.<\/p>\n

This three-year collaborative includes multiple researchers in NAU\u2019s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute<\/a> (PMI).<\/p>\n

Valley fever is an infectious disease that affects thousands of people in Arizona every year. It is caused by Coccidioides posadasii<\/em>, a fungus that lives in the soil of areas with hot summers, mild winters and little rainfall, which includes much of Arizona. The fungal spores can be readily inhaled, which is how most Valley fever infections are believed to occur. Yet the amount of fungal burden in the soil and air, the degree to which these fungal spores travel, and the potential for new areas to be colonized with the organism are currently unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Arizona is responsible for two-thirds of all U.S. Valley fever infections, but just looking across the land we can\u2019t tell which places the fungus grows or are the source of so many infections,\u201d said Dr. John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence in the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson and a member of the BIO5 Institute. \u201cThis study will try to connect the dots between strains that cause people to get sick, where in the land they come from and what it is about those hot spots that makes the fungus thrive. With this new information, we might prevent infections at work sites or even for everyone who lives here.\u201d<\/p>\n

This collaboration is critical in directly addressing the threat that Valley fever poses to all of Arizona, said Paul Keim<\/strong>, Regents\u2019 professor of biology and executive director of PMI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABOR funding will accelerate the coordination of expertise at all three universities to understand and then attack\u00a0Valley\u00a0fever\u2019s public health impact,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an amazing cross-disciplinary project that would be difficult to fund from other sources. Arizona can expect tangible benefits that improve the health and lives of our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six individual projects will take place using funding provided through Arizona\u2019s Technology and Research Initiative Fund. They are:<\/p>\n