A recent state study shows that prisoners sent to the San Joaquin Valley are much more likely to get valley fever than the rest of the local population.

But none of the inmates has been jailed for possession of the fungus that causes the disease.

Since the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, that's something that could land a person behind bars or worse.

The soil fungus that causes valley fever was added to an expanded list of biological agents and toxins heavily regulated by the federal government as potential terrorism agents in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Included with a host of scary sounding names like "Crimean-Congo haemorraghic fever virus" and "hantavirus pulmonary syndrome" is the fungus known scientifically as "coccidioides immitis."

That's the technical name for the microscopic mold spores that lurk in local soil and are inhaled as they become airborne.

The result is an infection that can cause aching joints, pneumonia, hospitalization and - in some cases - death.

There is no cure.

The federal government considers the organism, which resembles mold on a piece of bread, to be a biological weapon that terrorists might consider alongside more well-known agents of mayhem like anthrax and botulism.

Experts don't think it has much of a future as a deliberate killer.

"From a practical point of view, I don't think (the fungus) would be a very useful agent," said Dr. Hans Einstein, a valley fever specialist in Bakersfield.

Getting the virus would be easy, Einstein indicated - as easy as paying a technician $100 to get a lab sample, he said.

Getting it airborne might not be a problem either.

Einstein said a would-be terrorist would need a gun, plane, helicopter or other dispersion device.

The resultant cloud of spores could sicken a lot of people, especially if it spread among those who had never been exposed, Einstein said.

The fungus would have the greatest impact among those with no built-up immunity. Many natives and longtime residents of the San Joaquin Valley, having had the disease without being aware of it, are less susceptible to reinfection.

So a terrorist would probably have more success releasing the spores in Washington, D.C. or New York rather than Hanford, according to Einstein.

The trouble would be getting the airborne organism to move in the desired direction.

"How are you going to control where it goes? You can't do that with a biological agent," Einstein said.

Joe Neves, director of Kings County's office of emergency services, also doubted the usefulness of valley fever as a terrorism device.

Neves questioned whether infections would manifest themselves fast enough to have an immediate impact.

"I'm not going to dismiss it, but I think valley fever ... you can't let (it) dominate the thought process because I think there are some (more likely) threats out there," he said.

Meanwhile, the search for a vaccine continues.

Einstein said he had hoped that the fungus' designation as a potential terrorist agent would spur greater funding and research into the valley fever vaccine project.

But the practical impact has been more complicated security measures that have hampered the effort, he said.

"So far, the effect, if you want to put it that way, has been negative," Einstein said.

One thing is for sure: However harmful the federal government thinks valley fever could be in the hands of a terrorist, it's far down the list of local emergency concerns.

Neves said that as a county emergency official, he's more worried about an electricity shutdown than anything else.

"If we had last summer's high temperatures combined with a loss of power, I think the result could have been catastrophic," he said.

(The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3061.)

(Feb. 3, 2007)