California health officials are urging people who attended the Lightning in a Bottle music festival in Kern County to seek medical attention if they have respiratory symptoms or a fever.
Authorities have identified five patients with valley fever who attended the six-day event, held May 22-27 at Lake Buena Vista near Bakersfield. Three people were hospitalized.
More than 20,000 people attended the festival.
One attendee, on a Reddit thread r/LightningInaBottle, said a fellow festivalgoer was hospitalized for two weeks with “severe” valley fever.
“If you have unexplained symptoms such as fever, chills, and headache or neck pain,” the user wrote, “let the doctors know it could be Valley Fever, even if it has been months.”
Valley fever is an infectious disease caused by the fungus coccidioides, which grows in soil and dirt in certain areas 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 develop illness, but it can infect the lungs and cause respiratory symptoms in some people, including cough, difficulty breathing, 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. Past outbreaks have been linked to exposure to dust and dirt at outdoor events and construction sites where dirt is disturbed, 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 thrive in wet years.
A 2022 study published in the medical journal The Lancet concluded that multi-year cycles of dry conditions followed by wet winters increased transmission, particularly in historically wetter areas. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and duration of droughts throughout the southwestern United States, potentially increasing the prevalence of Valley Fever spores and fungi.
Kern County has the highest incidence rate in the state, accounting for, on average, about a third of cases.
State health officials say people who have visited Kern County in recent months and have respiratory symptoms that have not improved or last more than a week should see a health care professional and ask about possible valley fever.
They also encourage people to mention their attendance at the music festival or their trip to Kern County.
Participants can visit the California Department of Public Health’s Valley Fever Survey website for more information and to share details about any illnesses.
Another Reddit user said he contracted the disease two weeks after returning from the festival to his home in Colorado.
The music fan described a “terrible” cough, headache, body aches, fever and chills. The Reddit user isn’t sure he’ll go back next year.
“I don’t want to miss this… but I also don’t want to get a fungal lung infection again. Wow!”
