California prison officials report that they have moved most inmates susceptible to Valley Fever from two Central Valley prisons in areas particularly prone to the potentially fatal fungal infection.
Doctors say Avenal and Pleasant Valley have an unusually high rate of Valley Fever. A 2011 report shows 535 of the 640 reported cases within California prisons occurred at these two institutions.
“The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it met the judge’s goal a day after federal government scientists announced they were launching a major medical experiment in search of a treatment for Valley Fever, which is prevalent in California and Arizona,” reports The Associated Press.
Prison officials said 750 inmates at risk to the illness are still at the prisons. Several declined transfers, reports the AP. Prison officials are working to transfer additional inmates who just recently qualified for transfer, said corrections spokesperson Jeffery Allison.
