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Life & Times Transcript
06/30/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It's spread by fire, earthquakes and dry dusty winds, three things Southern Californians know well. But how much do we know about Valley Fever? Dr. Royce Johnson>> I had an individual who came here to interview for a position from the Midwest who had never been in California. When he came back in the days when we had a skin test, he turned positive, so he had actually caught the disease in the one day he was here. Val Zavala>> And then, Life and Times commentator, Cris Franco, looks at one of life's biggest tests. Those stories and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> It lives in dry, dusty climates and, in some rare cases, it can be fatal. It's a fungus called Valley Fever, Valley as in the Central Valley. There's not yet a vaccine and Bakersfield has been especially hard hit. That's where Sam Louie went to speak to some victims who've suffered some devastating effects. Sam Louie>> Bakersfield sits at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley about a hundred twelve miles north of Los Angeles. It's known for its oil, agriculture and ranching. But now Bakersfield has become known for something more troubling, a respiratory disease dubbed Valley Fever. In some rare cases, it can leave a person disabled or even lead to death. In California, Kern County is considered the hub of Valley Fever with more than sixty percent of the cases diagnosed during the past fifteen years. Every Tuesday at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Valley Fever patients come in for their checkups. Maria Mendez>> "Actually, he's talking a little bit more, but it's like whispering." Sam Louie>> On this day, Maria Mendez brought in her forty-three year old husband, Carlos Mendez, to see Dr. Johnson. Dr. Royce Johnson>> "But he does seem to understand what you're saying better?" Maria Mendez>> "He understands everything I tell him. I ask him questions and he'll answer me with movement sometimes." Sam Louie>> Carlos caught a severe case of Valley Fever. His wife believes he got it while working at a fruit storage facility three years ago. Maria Mendez>> They had to put tubes in him because they said he had gone into a coma. He was like that in ICU for like two days. After the two days, he woke up and he woke up like this. Sam Louie>> Carlos is now bound to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and has trouble speaking. Maria Mendez>> Now that I think about it, it's kind of hard because I have to see him every day the way he is and sometimes it is kind of dispiriting to see him not recuperate so fast like before. Sam Louie>> So how do you catch Valley Fever? Valley Fever is a fungus that lives in the soil most often in hot, dry climates. But the seeds of the fungus, known as spores, can travel across hundreds of miles. You get it by inhaling the spores. Dr. Royce Johnson specializes in treating patients with Valley Fever. Dr. Royce Johnson>> Well, Valley Fever is an infectious disease, but not a contagious disease, caused by inhaling the spores of Coccidioidomycosis, a fungus that dwells in the soil throughout the southwest, but most particularly here in the southern San Joaquin. Sam Louie>> More than half of the people who breath in the spores don't get sick at all. Others develop symptoms similar to a cold or the flu, but there are those on the other end of the spectrum, a small percentage, less than one percent, who come down with a more severe form of the disease. And Bakersfield residents aren't the only ones at risk. When the wind picks up the microscopic spores, they can travel far. Dr. Royce Johnson>> It comes in from the low foothills rather than on the valley floor in the undisturbed soil, but it can fly seventy-five miles through the air. In fact, we have sea otters that catch Cocci and that's one of the reasons you can catch it throughout most of the southwest because it can travel quite a distance in the air. Sam Louie>> Other events like earthquakes and fires can also disrupt the soil and send the spores flying over hundreds of miles of terrain. People who work or play outside may be more susceptible to catching Valley Fever, but it's not uncommon to get it by being in the environment for just a few hours. Dr. Royce Johnson>> I had an individual who came here to interview for a position from the Midwest who had never been in California. When he came back in the days when we had a skin test, he turned positive. So he had actually caught the disease in the one day he was here and there are lots of stories like that. Sam Louie>> Forty-three year old Edwin Mitchell caught Valley Fever last October. Today he needs a cane to walk and a neck brace for support. Mitchell says he lost fifty-five pounds and has yet to regain enough strength to return to work. Edwin Mitchell>> Very slowly it hit me, but it hit me hard where it just took everything out of me where I couldn't do nothing. It took all my weight, so I think I was weighing about a hundred twenty-three. Sam Louie>> He believes he caught Valley Fever after working the past year at an oil field. Edwin Mitchell>> I was always outdoors. In the oil field, you're always outdoors. You don't come in until it's time to go home. A lot of dust, mountains and all that. Like when the wind blows, a lot of dust blows, so, you know, that too. Sam Louie>> So to keep his condition in check, Mitchell takes oral medications and must also get a weekly anti-fungal drug given intravenously. Edwin Mitchell>> I worried about dying because the doctor told me, well, you know, if you don't take care of this, you can die. Dr. Royce Johnson>> There is no real way to prevent catching it that's practical other than a vaccine, which unfortunately we don't have at this point. [Film Clip] Sam Louie>> At the Ranch Market in Bakersfield, volunteers talk to customers about Valley Fever and their organization, the Valley Fever Vaccine Project of the Americas. Mike Cooper is the President. Mike Cooper>> Well, our goal is really two-fold. First of all, we're trying to develop a vaccine for Valley Fever to be able to vaccinate people so they don't catch Valley Fever in the future. Second of all, our foundation and our project is involved in a grassroots movement to educate the public and to make them more aware. Sam Louie>> Periodically, they set up booths around town, complete with informational flyers in both Spanish and English. Mike Cooper>> We're giving some medical information if they need it with regards to clinics and doctors they can see if they require treatment for it. Sam Louie>> The organization is also in the process of raising two and a half million dollars for a vaccine. Mike Cooper>> Now with the modern technology and everything and the improvements in molecular biology, we're on the verge of having a vaccine for Valley Fever now. It's been successful in studies with mice. We're currently doing primate studies with monkeys right now and we hope to be in human trial within the next twelve to eighteen months. Cheryl Youngblood>> Well, if they get a vaccine, one shot and my husband would be alive. If the first vaccine works, none of this would be happening for me. Sam Louie>> Cheryl Youngblood lost her husband, Mike Youngblood, in January of 2001. This is a picture of Mike before he caught Valley Fever. This is a picture of him taken just two weeks before he passed away. Cheryl Youngblood>> He had lost over a hundred pounds. He was six foot tall and weighed under a hundred forty pounds, so he was literally skin and bones. Sam Louie>> When Mike was first diagnosed with Valley Fever, Cheryl and her family were unaware of the disease and its deadly potential. Cheryl Youngblood>> We were all excited, which was stupid because we thought it's only Valley Fever. He'll get well and take medicine and that will be done. Sam Louie>> After taking drugs for treatment, Cheryl says her husband's health improved for a short time, but then started to fail. Cheryl Youngblood>> He just went downhill. He started having strokes. He lost excessive amounts of weight. He had bad skin rashes and he finally literally faded away mentally and physically and was gone in January of 2001. He was forty-nine. Sam Louie>> As for Carlos, his condition has improved, but Dr. Johnson doesn't think it will improve enough to allow Carlos to go back to work or to live independently. Dr. Royce Johnson>> "And he became brain-damaged in all that process, so he has trouble talking and he has trouble walking." Sam Louie>> Cheryl is hoping a vaccine will be developed soon so that no one else will have to suffer like she has. Cheryl Youngblood>> How easy would that be to get one shot and never have to worry about Valley Fever? I mean, it's like polio. We don't worry about it anymore. Sam Louie>> But until a vaccine is ready, doctors will do their best to treat those with Valley Fever, and volunteers with the Valley Vaccine Project of the Americas will continue to get the word out to the public about a tiny spore that can be devastating. I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> It's a fundamental question. Is drug addiction a choice or a disease? And what does the latest research, including genetic research, have to say about that? Dr. Nora Volkow is a leading expert on drug addictions and the brain. She's Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the NIH. I met her at the Meridian Hotel in Los Angeles where she was a guest speaker of Town Hall Los Angeles. People, the American public in general, when it comes to addicts and addiction, often want to blame the addict. It's a character flaw, they're weak, they don't have the power to control themselves. What has your research found? Is it a matter of free will or is it a disease? Dr. Nora Volkow>> Well, what happens is, what generates free will? Free will is a product of the way that your brain functions. There are certain areas of the brain that allow you to understand the process and to choose to do it or not. If those areas are destructed or damaged, your ability to exert free will is going to be affected also. What research has shown is that exposure to drugs appears to damage these areas of the brain that are involved in the process of free will. So when we say someone has very poor free will, as if that were our choice, is like someone that cannot breath properly because they're lungs are not functioning. The areas of the brain responsible for free will have been damaged by the effect of drugs. Val Zavala>> Now there's a tremendous amount of genetic research being done today, a lot of advances. What does it show about an individual's propensity or predisposition to being an addict? Dr. Nora Volkow>> We've known for many years that children that were born in families where there was a high incidence of addiction are much more likely to become addicted. This recognized that addictions have such strong character ability components and that genes play an extraordinarily important role in forming ability. Val Zavala>> Not just their environment? Dr. Nora Volkow>> There is the issue of genes and environment. You can have the genes that make you responsible, but if you do not have the drugs, you will not become addicted. We've also come to recognize that certain environments, particularly those that are full of stress, are much more likely to facilitate the transition of taking drugs and addiction. What we are doing right now from the research perspective is trying to understand what are those genes that are making you vulnerable to taking drugs. We're asking importantly what are those genes that may in fact protect you against taking drugs. Val Zavala>> But there are some people who have genes who are genetically predisposed to become addicts? Is that correct? Dr. Nora Volkow>> That is the belief, that there are people that are more vulnerable. I don't like to use the predetermined word because no one is really predetermined. Where in terms of addiction, you may have greater or less vulnerability, but that does not mean predetermination. That's where interventions can be very important because you can in fact interfere with that projectory to becoming addictive if you do a good environmental or therapeutic intervention. Val Zavala>> One of the experiments you've been involved with dealt with chimpanzees who were given a drug or given access to a drug under certain conditions? Dr. Nora Volkow>> There was a very interesting story done by a group at Wake Forest University led by Michael Nadir. What they were doing was actually trying to understand what are the effects of social character in terms of the biochemistry of the brain. What they showed was those animals that were dominant, the monkeys, had a higher concentration of a protein that we know is very important in regulating the vulnerability of taking drugs whereas the subordinates had a much lower concentration of these drugs -- Val Zavala>> -- and a lower concentration means they're more inclined or less -- Dr. Nora Volkow>> -- yes, a lower concentration means being associated with choice in animals and humans to give you a higher vulnerability to take drugs. Lo and behold, they found that these animals with the low levels of this protein, the subordinates, were the ones that were more likely to administer cocaine. Val Zavala>> To themselves. Dr. Nora Volkow>> Yes. Val Zavala>> So what does that imply about human conditions? That people who are, what, subordinate or -- Dr. Nora Volkow>> -- but wait a second, this is a primate and primates only have one social structure whereas we as humans have multiple social environments. You can be a dominant at work, but you can be a subordinate at home or vice versa. You can be a subordinate at work, but be a dominant in your community. The element is felt, and you create a system that can create a sense of well-being and allow you to develop as an individual without the stressors that come by being a subordinate. Val Zavala>> Psychiatrists in the United States, when they have someone walk through your door and they're an addict, the chances of private insurance covering their treatment is, what, nil, very, very little? Dr. Nora Volkow>> It's low. Some private insurance pays for it, but most of them will not. Val Zavala>> And why is that? Dr. Nora Volkow>> Because there is stigma in the process of drug addiction. Drug addiction is considered by many a lifestyle choice, not a disease. That's number one. There's another element that is used by insurance companies not to pay for the treatment of addiction, and they say it doesn't work. Yet treatment works. Val Zavala>> Well, a lot of treatment doesn't work. There's a tremendous amount of relapse. Dr. Nora Volkow>> But the fact that you relapse does not mean that it does not work. It means drug addiction is a chronic disease which means that you have to have continuity of care. It's the same as other diseases. The rates of relapse with drug addiction is not different from that of hypertension or asthma. Val Zavala>> Really? Dr. Nora Volkow>> But in the case of hypertension or asthma, when you relapse, no one questions the fact that the treatment doesn't work. You just basically may shift to another medication. In the case of drug addiction, a person maybe has done very, very well for two years. Then they relapse and everybody says that it didn't work. Of course, it worked. Here you have a person that was taking a drug and now he's able to stay clean for two years. A stressor may have happened in their lives and they relapse. So you bring them back to treatment, an acute stage of treatment, and allow them then to continue with some aftercare that will help them stay clean for, again, as long as you can do it. Val Zavala>> So what do you think would be a more enlightened approach as a society, as a medical community, to the problem of addiction whether it be alcohol or drugs? Dr. Nora Volkow>> A more enlightened approach, in your words, would be for society to really incorporate the concept of drug addiction as a disease of the brain. Not to say, yes, drug addiction is a disease of the brain -- but. But to really incorporate it and treat it like any other disease. If drug addiction were to be considered a medical disease, many of these issues will be removed which will allow the person to feel free and not feel that shame of speaking up and saying, "I have a problem. I need help" and go seek help. Val Zavala>> Dr. Volkow, thank you so much for your work and your thoughts on this. Dr. Nora Volkow>> You're welcome. Val Zavala>> Dr. Nora Volkow was a guest of Town Hall Los Angeles. If you'd like more information on future speakers and events, you can go to their website at townhall-la.org. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Every year, hundreds of thousands of college-bound high school students take the SATs. Well, at least, they hope they're college-bound, and that's what makes the SATs so terrifying. But there's help out there from Life and Times commentator, Cris Franco. Cris Franco>> The most important test facing most high school seniors, besides a post-prom early pregnancy test, is the dreaded SATs. It's a test which dictates what college you'll attend, which in turn decides your earnings potential, which decides whether you'll get basic cable or HBO and whether you'll buy the small or the Vente at Starbucks, which decides how wired you'll be and how hard you'll work, which decides how much money you'll make, which decides what neighborhood you'll move into and how good your area schools will be, which dictates if your kids will be prepared to take their dreaded SATs -- whew! In today's test-happy educational system, everything a student does starting with his first work of preschool macaroni art is all merely part of his preparation for taking the almighty SAT. SAT stands for the Scholastic Assessment Test and it's a long test. Oh, we're talking real long, like Ken Burns long, with a running time of almost four hours. It's a three-part mental marathon measuring your critical reading, writing and math. Each segment is worth up to eight hundred points with a total possible score of twenty-four hundred. You know, the test has changed a lot since I took it. Then there were only two sections and now the antonym section has been eliminated. I mean, I love the antonym section. You know, the opposite of hydrated is parched, arid or -- vanilla. Supposedly, antonyms made the SAT culturally biased and, for me, it was biased, but not because of the antonym section, but because the test starts with you filling in all these dots with your name using a number two pencil. I as a minority, Latino, Hispanic, Chicano, Mexican American Raza person of color, my name is longer than most people: Cristobal Emilio Franco-Bulgura de la Nina la Pinta'y Santa Maria. So by the time I'd fill in my name, I wasn't ready to start the test. I needed a break, plus another number two pencil. Today so much emphasis is put on the student's SAT score that entire industries have emerged, promising higher scores to those who purchase workbooks, study guides, online courses, sample tests, private tutors and pricey college board coaching classes. Not being one to miss the gravy train, I myself am now marketing Cris Franco's "I'm Going to Ace the SAT Kit". It's got everything you need to get a perfect score of twenty-four hundred -- or lower -- when you take advantage of the many special items in this attractive box. You get two packs of my super brain food snacks scientifically formulated to improve your concentration, memory and promotes brain expansion. It's like encephalitis, only better. You're going to love the taste of my Academia Nuts and Crani-Yums because higher fiber could mean higher test scores. Also, the night before the test, you're going to want to pop one of these Ambien-SATs. Unique sleeping agents will ensure that the night before the biggest exam of your life is the deepest, most restful sleep of your life. Ambien-SATs. You won't be dreaming when you see how high your score is. And just in case the Ambien-SATs works too well, here's SA-Green-T. Drink one hot cup in the morning and you'll feel SATerrific. The distinctive blend of green tea will unlock all the knowledge of the Far East. Your math skills will multiply because you're alert, very alert, and able to hold that number two pencil for those crucial four hours. Be sure to drink it from a strong porcelain cup, not a paper cup. It eats through paper. So here's what you get. You get the Ambien-SATs. You get the brain snacks, the Academia Nuts, and you get the Crani-Yums and you also get the SA-Green-T. But because this is PBS, I'm going to give you infinitely more. Order today and you'll also get the SAT-shirt. It's micro-blend that's one hundred percent cotton, twenty-four hundred SAT. Wear it the morning of the big one and you'll score big. No sweat. Is there more? Yes. If you buy the Cris Franco's "I'm Going to Ace my SAT Kit", on the morning of your SATs, the most crucial dawn of your day, you'll be awakened by this clock with my face and the sound of me telling you that today you're going to ace the SATs, and you will. You will because you're also getting this signed picture of me applauding your perfect score -- or lower -- and congratulating you on a job well done. Amigos, realizing that every point on your SATs will forever impact your lifelong earnings, you think that this cornucopia of SAT treasures would be worth a hundred, two hundred or three hundred thousand dollars, right? Well, it is, but because this is PBS, I'm going to throw in one more item. This CD set of songs guaranteed to improve your SAT vocabulary. It's improving my vocabulary already. It's got catchy tunes. Can't you just feel your vocabulary score rising? You're certain to score big if you buy my kit today. And the greatest thing about the SAT kit is that, after you get into college, no one will ever ask you or care what your SAT score is. It's like it magically disappears. But until then, who wants to buy a bag of my Academia Nuts? Val Zavala>> Sounds great, Cris. So what did you score on your SATs? And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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