Valley Fever In Arizona (Phoenix, Sedona: camping, cost, vs.)

[esiebert7625]

There is a surefire way to guarantee that you won't catch Valley Fever:

Seinfeld In HD - The Bubble Boy - YouTube

[Sarp1]

This is getting a bit out of hand. I came on this board to get advice from residents about Valley Fever, not anonymous internet speculation about my mental health. I can assure you that I have no anxiety disorders.

In regards to Lyme disease, by "outdoor activity" I just meant activities like jogging outside on wooded paths. Suburban parks are a hotspot for ticks because of the high deer population. Just standing on your driveway isn't a big risk.

"Fear out of proportion to reality is one of the defining characteristics of anxiety disorders. "

The New Yorker article has the following factoid (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...0/death-dust):

Two prisons, Pleasant Valley State Prison and Avenal State Prison, stand out for their appalling track records. In 2011, in California over all, there were twelve cases of valley fever for every hundred thousand people; at Avenal, the rate was thirty-eight hundred, and at Pleasant Valley it was more than sixty-eight hundred—more than six per cent. In June, after the Prison Law Office argued, successfully, that the conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ordered the transfer of twenty-six hundred at-risk prisoners from Pleasant Valley and Avenal.

A judge accepted that being forcibly sent to certain areas of the CA central valley is cruel and unusual punishment. This is a real event within reality. It's not irrational to take such events seriously and investigate further.

[jimj]

Sarp1,
Now that you've been through all the other answers here let me see if I can add some perspective to this as someone who's been dealing with V.F. for a couple years now. I did not have a weakened immune system nor am I black or diabetic.

First off, I knew about V.F. before I moved here but never in a million years thought I'd contract it, especially from being at a Country Music Concert where a dust storm blew through, even though I was pretty much encapsulated in a vending rig we still had some exposure. My doctors and I are pretty certain that's where my exposure and infection came from by the way.
The fact that in "most" cases it's mild, almost like the flu is true...until it's not. When it goes beyond mild it's no joke and can get very serious very fast not to mention the effects can last a lifetime AND it can re-emerge at any time.

Were I to advise someone who (like you) is asking I'd say there's risks to living everywhere as you've seen when it comes to Lyme but you can do things to reduce the risks.
Not just the obvious "stay inside during dust storms" but others like when digging in the yard dampen the soil before digging, if going by road construction or any other places where they're raising up dust close your windows until well past.
Not for nothing St. Joseph's has created and opened a unit specifically for V.F. and several organizations are researching a cure/vaccine (none exist at this time) so there must be something to it to expend all the effort.

All I can say is do your best to avoid the stated triggers and hope for the best like everywhere else one could live.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Sarp1

This is getting a bit out of hand. I came on this board to get advice from residents about Valley Fever, not anonymous internet speculation about my mental health. I can assure you that I have no anxiety disorders.

In regards to Lyme disease, by "outdoor activity" I just meant activities like jogging outside on wooded paths. Suburban parks are a hotspot for ticks because of the high deer population. Just standing on your driveway isn't a big risk.

"Fear out of proportion to reality is one of the defining characteristics of anxiety disorders. "

The New Yorker article has the following factoid (Death Dust - The New Yorker
.

You have a point ^^. You linked an article from the New Yorker. Here is what I did. I skimmed it. It said about 100 people got Valley Fever after a MASSIVE 5000 foot high cloud of dirt came by in Sacramento County. The link said the wall covered 5 counties.

My engineering brain googled "population of Sacramento County" and came up with 1.4M. So 100 people out of 1.4M is 0.007%. In that batch of a 100, most were treated. A super small amount got Jimj's unfortunate result.

That calculation seemed low. So I googled how many cases of Valley Fever happened in the Valley of the sun and concluded 6,000 a year out of 4.5M (see What Is Valley Fever? Symptoms and Treatment ) or 0.13% of the Valley. Again, most of the 0.13% of the people affected are easily treated with flue like symptoms. Note: 2/3 of all US cases of Valley Fever happen in AZ. But it's only 0.13 percent of the population or 6000 people.

We can also do the same math for Lyme's Disease. It's NOT a factor for 99.8% of the people per year in northern states with a lot of deer. I did the math. For the record, I chose the northwest valley to dodge the smog (prevailing winds) as well as the dust storms. So my chances of getting it is even less.

But 40% of people will get some form of cancer in their lifetime. Cancer of All Sites - SEER Stat Fact Sheets . Therefore you really do need to worry more about your genes, and what you eat by a factor of 400%.

As you see, my logic and quick math helps me not to worry. Those who don't use logic tend of worrying and digest stupid fear mongering articles. THAT was azriverfan's point. I apologize if that sounded harsh. I am trying to explain why this common question is gets really old. To give validity that "it must be true" because prison workers cannot work outside because of Valley Fever is non-sense. Remember, a jury acquitted O.J. Most people manager their life through emotional decisions including a jury.


Good luck with your pending move and sleep like a baby!

[esiebert7625]

The links I posted above show the current stats month by month and by county. Most cases in AZ are in Maricopa county (72%) with Pima (15%) and Pinal (8%) being the next biggest.

[RenW]

The OP doesn't seem particularly scared or anxious to me and it is unfair to characterize them being so. What we need to keep in mind that it is perfectly natural for people to be more afraid of or cautious of the unknown. Locals get desensitized to the particular dangers of their area. For instance, people that don't live in areas with tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes often consider them with greater anxiety than those who have lived around a particular danger for a while. Those who don't live here are going to be particularly concerned about valley fever, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and severe heat in the summers, if they are things they don't deal with in the area they are from. This is all just par for course when participating on a forum where people ask questions about an area.

[PoppySead]

Just like worrying about the flu. Most people are fine but a few get really sick. I don't think about it much while here. I'll take it over ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards as more people die in those so my odds here are better living in Phoenix as far as survival goes. Just do the math.

[43north87west]

Leave it to an East Coast publication.

Coming from the East Coast, your level of illness will probably drop 75%.

And your worst problems will not be health related. You're more likely to be psychologically challenged by the rapid immersion into a less spastic lifestyle.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by RenW

The OP doesn't seem particularly scared or anxious to me and it is unfair to characterize them being so. What we need to keep in mind that it is perfectly natural for people to be more afraid of or cautious of the unknown. Locals get desensitized to the particular dangers of their area. For instance, people that don't live in areas with tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes often consider them with greater anxiety than those who have lived around a particular danger for a while. Those who don't live here are going to be particularly concerned about valley fever, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and severe heat in the summers, if they are things they don't deal with in the area they are from. This is all just par for course when participating on a forum where people ask questions about an area.

In all fairness - the title of the one article, " Death Dust"... wow.. that could certainly be disturbing to someone who isn't from around here.. talk about hystrionic headlines...

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

In all fairness - the title of the one article, " Death Dust"... wow.. that could certainly be disturbing to someone who isn't from around here.. talk about hystrionic headlines...

Good point. Do you think the author had a goal to educate people or did she want to scare them so that they read her article?

The other link was called "The Mysterious Fungus". But the fungus has been known for 100 years (that was her 1st sentence).