'It took everything': the disease that can be contracted by breathing California's air

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) The illness that would change Rob Purdie’s life started with a headache, a terrible pain that began around New Year’s 2012 and stayed for months.

It was only after several trips to urgent care facilities, multiple doctors and incorrect diagnoses – everything from sinus infections to cluster headaches – he learned what was wrong with him.

The Bakersfield, California, resident had meningitis caused by Valley fever, a disease that comes from Coccidioides, a fungus endemic to the soil of the US south-west. Years of debilitating illness, struggles finding effective treatments and other hardships followed.

“It took everything – my health,” Purdie said. “It had a huge impact on my family. We lost everything, all our financial security, all our retirement.”

The father of two is among the small percentage of people who develop serious forms of Valley fever – most people don’t get sick after exposure and very few have severe symptoms. But for those who develop the chronic form of the disease, it can be devastating. .........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/29/california-valley-fever-disease-climate-crisis

[Just A Box Of Rain]

1. Tulare dust in a farm boy's nose

Wondering where the freight train goes
Standin' in the field by the railroad track
Cursin' this strap on my cotton sack

I can see mom and dad with shoulders low
Both of 'em pickin' on a double row
They do it for a livin' because they must
That's life like it is in the Tulare dust

The California sun was something new
That when we arrived in '42
And I can still remember how my daddy cussed
The tumbleweeds here in the Tulare dust

The wally fever was a comin' fate
To the farmworkers here in the Golden State
And I miss Oklahoma but I'll stay
If I must and help make a livin' in the Tulare dust

The Tulare dust in a farm boy's nose
Wondering where the freight train goes
Standin' in the field by the railroad track
Cursin' this strap on my cotton sack

~Merle Haggard

[panader0]

5. That's one I haven't heard.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

6. The Hag wrote and sang so many great songs. Tulare Dust is one of my favorites.

For you:

[panader0]

7. When we played a C&W bar here in Az, we played Lonesome Fugitive.

I found out later that he didn't write it, but did a great job with it. We had sets for C&W and for
R&R and later learned sets for blues when my little town got a blues bar.
By the way, I'm a Dead fan too. I saw them a few times in the late 60's and early 70's. Me and My Uncle
was on the C&W set list.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. I'm envious that you have the talent to play in a band.

I love music. One of the great joys of my life. But lack the talent to play.

Merle certainly did "own" Lonesome Fugitive.

What do you play?

[panader0]

11. I play the easiest instrument in the band--rhythm guitar.

Our lead player was outstanding. He and I shared vocals. I'm too old now--starting time for a gig
is now my bed time. We still play at my place in my band shed on weekends. One of my few pleasures.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

12. "Past My Bedtime" might be a great name for a geezer group. LOL

I'm not getting any younger myself. Beats the alternative.

[2naSalit]

2. A few friends...

Who vacationed in AZ around that time got it. One of them died within a year of getting it.

[babylonsister]

3. I have a friend on FB

who got Valley fever that first covid summer. She expects to be on oxygen til she dies, is still pretty debilitated, was sick for months, lost her home, etc.

[panader0]

8. I had Valley fever when I was a teenager but never knew it until an X-ray many years later

revealed a spot on one lung.

[IcyPeas]

4. first time I ever heard of Valley Fever was after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake:

Valley fever outbreak
An unusual effect of the Northridge earthquake was an outbreak of coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) in Ventura County. This respiratory disease is caused by inhaling airborne spores of the fungus. The 203 cases reported, of which three resulted in fatalities, constituted roughly 10 times the normal rate in the initial eight weeks. This was the first report of such an outbreak following an earthquake, and it is believed that the spores were carried in large clouds of dust created by seismically triggered landslides.[35] Most of the cases occurred immediately downwind of the landslides.[36]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Northridge_earthquake

[Just A Box Of Rain]

13. Doesn't Valley Fever also do a number on dogs?

[StarryNite]

14. Yes, it really hits a lot of dogs and hits them hard.

I live in the Phoenix Metro area and dogs all around me have had or do have it. It can affect them anywhere in their body and can be fatal. It can cause them to have seizures or be in their brain or result in having to have a leg amputated. It's absolutely horrific. The medication for it is expensive and can trash their liver.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

15. I recall when our now 8.5 year old Vizsla was a young pup

that my wife was planning a visit to stay with a friend in Phoenix (Scottsdale) and IMS there was an especially bad outbreak of Valley Fever. My wife had been considering taking the dog.

But I requested the pup remain home.

Do the outbreaks tend to come in waves, or is it just bad (and risky) all the time?

[StarryNite]

18. Supposedly the peak months are between June and November.

It gets really bad when we have those huge summer dust storms or haboobs. But you can get an infection anytime.

So you have a Vizsla?! That's awesome! They are so pretty!

[Xavier Breath]

16. I have to admit that this is the first time I've ever heard of this ailment.

We have family in the southwest that we've visited numerous times, as well as having taken vacation trips there, but I never knew such a thing even existed. Thanks for sharing this and raising awareness, even if I seem to be the only one here unfamiliar with it.

[Iggo]

19. I've lived in and around Los Angeles for 60 years, and I've never heard of it either.

[StarryNite]

17. Arizona leads the nation in Valley Fever cases.

No cure, no vaccine.