Dorchester Times: Experts: Valley Fever Could Target Nebraska

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Experts: Valley Fever Could Target Nebraska

Valley Fever is a disease caused by a soil-based fungus that gets into your body through your lungs. It can make you feel like you have a cold or the flu and may cause a rash. It can be deadly.

And new cases have been diagnosed in Nebraska. In fact, one study predicts that the disease will become endemic in Nebraska, southeastern Montana, southern Idaho and South Dakota by 2065, Fox News reports.

The fungi spores enter the air when the soil is disturbed by strong winds or activities like farming, construction, and biking or ATV traffic over dry soil. Once in the air, the fungus spores can infect the lungs, causing respiratory symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, as well as fatigue, fever, headache, night sweats, muscle or joint aches, and a rash on the upper body or legs, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of Valley Fever tend to mimic those seen in patients with COVID-19, experts say. Valley Fever primarily affects the lungs but, especially in dogs, can spread to other areas of the body, such as the bones, eyes or nervous system.

While Valley Fever occurs mainly in dry desert areas of the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico, experts say warmer winters could trigger an expansion of Valley fever into northern states, including Nebraska -- especially with the increase of dust storms.

About 60% of people who get infected have no symptoms or only very mild flu-like symptoms and do not see a doctor, the CDC says. In more serious cases, however, symptoms may take months or even over a year to resolve. The CDC estimates between 5 and 10% of cases turn into serious or long-term problems.

In California, cases of Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis infection) have increased almost five-fold over the past 20 years.

Read this news article and this public health flyer for more information.

2 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 9, 2023 at 1:03 PM
Do you really thing it would NOT fly near Offutt after the USA just fixed the runway and it is the center of our whole strategic Triade
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AnonymousFebruary 23, 2023 at 10:22 PM
Who in their right mind would believe Fox or is it Faux News after we learned that they were spreading lies about the Dems stealing the 2020 election even though they themselves knew better. They were doing it just for their own greed. Maybe they should spend a few years in the federal facility at Florence Colorado for the harm that they did to our country. Nothing like using a nationally recognized news source to assist in the spread domestic terrorism.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."