California Doctors Use DNA Testing To Accelerate Valley Fever Diagnosis, Treatment

California doctors at the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno have discovered a way to diagnose Valley fever through DNA testing, shortening the diagnosis time of the potentially fatal disease from more than two weeks to as few as five hours. Dominic Dizon, an assistant professor at the UC-San Francisco, said the research will soon be published, and the machine to help treat patients will soon be available for purchase.

• "California Doctors Speed Up Valley Fever Diagnosis" (Smith, AP/Sacramento Bee, 3/24).