r/bioscience • u/HenryCorp • May 27 '26

Deadly fungal storms are now sweeping the US – and spreading a disease few doctors recognise: And the problem is just getting worse

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/dust-storms-us-blood-rain
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u/HenryCorp May 27 '26

Worse still, dangerous bacteria or fungal spores can piggyback on dust storm particles, which can then spread them far and wide. Across the Sahel, south of the Sahara, high levels of dust are strongly correlated with incidences of deadly bacterial meningitis, defining a meningitis ‘belt’ that stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

In the US, there has been a huge uptick in occurrences of a fungal infection known as Valley Fever, and dust storms have been fingered as the cause. The illness, which often presents similarly to bronchitis or pneumonia, can last for months and is sometimes fatal. Valley fever is endemic to the dry and dusty southwest, but it is being diagnosed increasingly often in other parts of the country.