HouseH.Res. 1561119th Congress
Expressing support for the designation of the third week of September as "Fungal Disease Awareness Week" and encouraging efforts to improve awareness, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, and prevention of fungal diseases in the United States.
Full Text
Official text as published. Use Ctrl+F / Cmd+F to search within the document.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1561 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1561
Expressing support for the designation of the third week of September
as ``Fungal Disease Awareness Week'' and encouraging efforts to improve
awareness, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, and prevention of fungal
diseases in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 17, 2026
Mr. Fong (for himself, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Calvert, and Mrs. Kim)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the designation of the third week of September
as ``Fungal Disease Awareness Week'' and encouraging efforts to improve
awareness, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, and prevention of fungal
diseases in the United States.
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention observes Fungal Disease
Awareness Week each September to raise awareness of fungal diseases and
promote the message to ``think fungus'' to save lives, and September 14
to 18, 2026, will mark the 10th anniversary of Fungal Disease Awareness
Week;
Whereas fungal diseases are an increasing public health concern and fungal
infections are increasingly resistant to antifungal medications;
Whereas fungal infections can resemble bacterial or viral pneumonia,
contributing to missed or delayed diagnoses, inappropriate antibiotic
use, preventable complications, prolonged illness, hospitalization,
disability, and death;
Whereas coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley Fever, is primarily a lung
infection caused by breathing in spores of Coccidioides, a fungus found
in soil and dust in parts of the United States, particularly the
Southwest and parts of the Pacific;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that
approximately 20,000 Valley Fever cases are reported in the United
States each year and that 21,037 cases were reported in 2023;
Whereas Valley Fever causes approximately 15 percent to 30 percent of community-
acquired pneumonias in the Bakersfield, California, Phoenix, Arizona,
and Tucson, Arizona metropolitan areas, and symptomatic patients may
experience fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, headache, night sweats,
muscle aches, and rash;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately
5 percent to 10 percent of patients with Valley Fever fail to recover
and develop complications or chronic pulmonary disease, disseminated
disease occurs in an estimated 1 percent of cases, and meningitis can
lead to permanent neurologic damage;
Whereas histoplasmosis is a fungal lung infection caused by breathing in spores
of Histoplasma, which can be found in soil contaminated with bird or bat
droppings, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states
that histoplasmosis is often misdiagnosed or diagnosed late because
symptoms resemble more common pneumonias caused by bacteria or viruses;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has responded to recent
fungal disease outbreaks, including a histoplasmosis outbreak between
2025 and 2026 affecting Tennessee and required rapid public health
communication;
Whereas the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal published by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported a large 2023 blastomycosis
outbreak among employees at a paper mill in northern Michigan, with 162
identified cases and a case prevalence of nearly 20 percent among mill
employees, demonstrating the importance of occupational awareness,
testing, and outbreak response capacity;
Whereas Candida auris, or C. auris, is an emerging, often drug-resistant fungus
that can cause life-threatening infections leading to severe illness,
and spreads easily among patients in healthcare facilities;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 6,304 new
clinical cases of C. auris in the United States in 2024 and the total
number of clinical cases has increased each year since the first case
was reported in 2016;
Whereas early recognition, accurate fungal identification and drug
susceptibility testing, antifungal treatment when indicated, infection
prevention and control, environmental and occupational risk awareness,
and improved surveillance can help reduce the burden of fungal diseases;
and
Whereas patients and families affected by fungal diseases often experience
delayed diagnosis, prolonged treatment, treatment toxicities, financial
strain, disability, lasting physical, emotional, and social impacts, and
death: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the designation of ``Fungal Disease Awareness
Week'' and the importance of improving awareness of fungal
diseases among the public, healthcare professionals, public
health agencies, employers, educators, and policymakers;
(2) honors patients, survivors, caregivers, clinicians,
laboratorians, public health professionals, researchers, and
advocates working to prevent, diagnose, treat, and respond to
fungal diseases;
(3) encourages healthcare professionals to ``think fungus''
when evaluating patients with pneumonia-like illness, severe
respiratory disease, meningitis, sepsis, healthcare-associated
infections, unexplained symptoms after environmental,
healthcare, or occupational exposures, or illness that does not
improve with treatment;
(4) supports expanded education and outreach on Valley
Fever, histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, aspergillosis,
mucormycosis, fungal meningitis, severe ringworm, candidiasis,
Candida auris, and other serious fungal diseases;
(5) recognizes Valley Fever as a growing public health
concern, particularly in California, Arizona, and other areas
where Coccidioides exists, and supports efforts to improve
timely diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, occupational
awareness, and patient-centered care;
(6) recognizes recent fungal disease outbreaks as evidence
of the need for stronger public health readiness, including
outbreak investigation capacity, laboratory testing, clinician
alerts, occupational and environmental risk communication, and
coordination across local, State, Tribal, territorial, and
Federal agencies;
(7) recognizes Candida auris as an urgent healthcare-
associated fungal threat that requires early detection,
screening when appropriate, infection prevention and control,
environmental disinfection, interfacility communication,
laboratory capacity, and antifungal resistance monitoring;
(8) recognizes there are existing knowledge gaps and a need
to better understand the prevalence, transmission, and public
health impacts of Candida auris in community settings;
(9) encourages the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and local, State, Tribal, and territorial health
departments, healthcare facilities, professional societies,
patient organizations, and community partners to expand
education, surveillance, and prevention activities during
Fungal Disease Awareness Week and throughout the year;
(10) supports improved fungal disease surveillance and
reporting, including consideration of gaps in reporting for
serious fungal diseases that are not uniformly reportable
across States;
(11) supports research and innovation to improve fungal
diagnostics, antifungal treatments, vaccines where feasible,
environmental and occupational prevention strategies, infection
prevention practices, and patient-reported outcomes; and
(12) affirms that fungal disease awareness saves lives by
promoting earlier recognition, timely and appropriate testing
and treatment, better outbreak response, and more effective
prevention.
<all>