By Paige St. John
LA Times
LOS ANGELES — California has lost another federal court decision: a judge on Monday ordered the state to move inmates at risk of contracting valley fever out of two prisons afflicted with the deadly fungus.
The order late Monday by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson gives the state seven days to begin the transfers and 90 days to complete them. Several thousand inmates, including African Americans, Filipinos and those with diabetes and HIV, are covered by the order affecting Pleasant Valley and Avenal state prisons.
No new inmates who are considered at-risk are to be sent to the two prisons.
Valley fever is caused by a soil-born fungus frequently found in arid regions of California’s Central Valley. Most of those who contract the illness experience only mild flu-like symptoms, but in some individuals, especially African Americans, it can spread through and ravage the body.
Full story: Inmates ordered removed from prisons with valley fever outbreaks