California health officials are urging people who attended the Kern County music festival Lightning in a Bottle to seek medical attention if they experience respiratory symptoms or fever.
Authorities have identified five patients with valley fever who attended the six-day event, which was held May 22-27 at Buena Vista Lake near Bakersfield. Three people have been hospitalized.
More than 20,000 people attended the festival.
One attendee, in a Reddit thread r/LightningInaBottle, said a fellow festival-goer had been hospitalized for two weeks with “severe” valley fever.
“If you have unexplained symptoms like fever, chills, and headaches or neck pain,” the user wrote, “let your doctors know it could be valley fever, even if it’s been several months.”
Valley fever is an infectious disease caused by the fungus Coccidioides, which grows in soil and dirt in parts of California. It is most commonly found in the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast of California.
Health officials say most people exposed to the fungus do not end up developing the disease, but it can infect the lungs and cause respiratory symptoms in some people, including cough, shortness of breath, fever and fatigue.
In rare cases, the fungus can spread to other parts of the body and cause serious illness.
Valley fever is not contagious. Previous outbreaks have been linked to exposure to dust and dirt at outdoor events and workplaces where dirt is stirred up, in areas of the state where the fungus is common.
Valley fever is on the rise in California, with particularly high numbers of cases reported in 2023 and 2024. The fungus appears to flourish in wet years.
A 2022 study published in the medical journal The Lancet found that multi-year cycles of dry conditions followed by wet winters increased transmission, especially in areas that were historically wetter. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and duration of droughts across the southwestern United States, which could increase the prevalence of Valley fever spores and fungi.
Kern County has the highest incidence rate in the state, accounting for, on average, about one-third of cases.
State health officials say people who have visited Kern County in recent months and are experiencing respiratory symptoms that have not improved or last more than a week should see a health care provider and ask about possible Valley fever.
They also urge people to mention attending the music festival or traveling to Kern County.
Attendees can visit the California Department of Public Health's Valley Fever Survey website to learn more and share details about any illnesses.
Another Reddit user said he contracted the disease two weeks after returning home from the festival to Colorado.
The music fan described a “terrible” cough, headache, body aches, fever and chills. The Reddit user isn’t sure he’d go again next year.
“I don't want to miss anything… but I also don't want to get another fungal lung infection. Ugh!”
