HEALTH ALERT: CDC Reports Valley Fever Cases Have Doubled in Phoenix Metro Over 17 Years — And the Fungal Lung Infection Is Spreading Beyond Its Historical Boundaries

A landmark federal surveillance study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on February 19, 2026 has confirmed what public health officials in Arizona have been warning about for years: Valley fever (coccidioidomycosis), the fungal lung disease caused by inhaling soil-borne Coccidioides spores, has approximately doubled in incidence across Arizona between 2005 and 2022