warning, Ariz. dust storm carried illness for humans and pets

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


When a monstrous dust storm swept through the Valley Tuesday night, many of us saw the huge cleanup that would be needed in its aftermath, but health experts saw something else -- potential valley fever cases. "It's a fungal spore that lives in the soil, and when you add a dust storm that brings it up and people breathe it in ... it settles in your lungs and it can make you sick," said Denise Harrington, an infectious prevention nurse with Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa. The disease can hit anywhere between a week to six weeks after inhaling the spores and affects everyone differently. Some valley fever patients may feel mild cold and flu-like symptoms, while others, where the disease disseminates past the lungs, can be more extreme causing severe debilitation and even death. Nick Montgomery was diagnosed with valley fever in 2008 when he was 11 years old. The disease attacked his bones causing him to drop 100 pounds and need nearly two dozen surgeries. "I had it on my
hips, the front and the back, and my right leg, because it was eating the bone away, so they had to go in and scrape it off the bone," Montgomery said. Harrington told us the best way to avoid valley fever is simple, stay indoors. But if you're caught in a dust storm, or have to clean up the aftermath, then take some precautions. "If you're going to blow it, you might want to think about protecting your lungs with a mask or something over your face, a bandana might even help if you had it folded a couple of times and around your face," Harrington said. And it's not just people who can get valley fever, your pets are also at risk. "I would bring them in during a dust storm, make sure they're not breathing it in either if you can," added Harrington. So if you're feeling ill in the next few weeks, see a doctor and ask to be tested for valley fever. The sooner it's caught, the better chance you have to control it early.
-----------------------------

[dipsydoodle]

1. Having seen the pictures on DU of that dust storm

and the video of it here in the UK on BBC News nothing would surprise me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14041973