{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://kevinmccarthy.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/mccarthy-schweikert-lead-letter-supporting-proposed-nih-valley-fever", "McCarthy, Schweikert Lead Letter SupportingProposed NIH Valley Fever Research Centers", "2020-09-15", "2020", "2020-09", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Kevin McCarthy", "M001165", "kevinmccarthy.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Today, Representatives Kevin McCarthyand David Schweikert (AZ-06), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Valley Fever Task Force, led a letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collinsand National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, in support ofthe NIH'sproposedand continuedefforts to betterresearchCoccidioidomycosis, more commonly known as Valley Fever. Excerpts of the letter are below, or you can read it in its entiretyhere: [W]ith the number of Valley Fever cases continuing to increase in recent years, combined with several University of California, San Francisco researchers estimating the total lifetime burden of Valley Fever cases in 2017 to be just shy of $700 million, we offer our strong support for this concept to move forward with appropriate funding to establish Valley Fever collaborative research centers. As members of the Congressional Valley Fever Task Force, who represent some of the hotspots of Valley Fever in the American Southwest, we applaud these efforts, particularly since Valley Fever presents pneumonia-like symptoms that are similar to those of the novel coronavirus, which can result in misdiagnosis of both diseases and lead to improper treatment regimens. This makes the Valley Fever concept even more timely and important.\n###  \n\t\nBackground:\nOn August 20, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a public Valley Fever workshop  at the request of Reps. McCarthy and Schweikert  that brought together experts to discuss trial design and best practices for antifungal drug and vaccine development. Section 4 of McCarthy and Schweikert'sbill, the FORWARD Act (H.R. 2858), would direct the FDA to hold public workshops on Valley Fever drug and vaccine development and issue aGuidance for Industrydocument to help with the development of such treatments.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://kevinmccarthy.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/mccarthy-schweikert-lead-letter-supporting-proposed-nih-valley-fever"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.708080992102623, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}