Valley Fever and Tucson (2013, homes, school)

[xz2y]

It appears that there were about 7,000 new cases of valley fever in Arizona in 2017, out of about 14,000 in the SW US, including CA. Cases seem to be increasing since 2013, after a spike in 2011, and then a decrease until 2013, when cases were on the rise again.

Apparently, those most affected are over 60, and potentially new to the area. Also, people with compromised immune systems are more at risk.

Given the high number of retirees that relocate to AZ annually, and the high number of seniors living in AZ and Tucson, I'm wondering if anyone on this forum has experienced valley fever or is concerned about it.

I guess it can be mild or serious, and many cases go unreported, so those numbers may actually be higher. It seems hard to avoid, given the desert climate and dust storms.


https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/...tatistics.html

[grmi66]

I caught it at the tail end of last year. Went from doing a long, arduous day hike in the Grand Canyon, running a few trail races and setting a couple of PR's on my training loops late October and November to flat on my back for 6 weeks. Literally overnight got a 103 degree fever and severe pneumonia.

According to my pulmonologist and what I read online, 60% of the people that catch Valley Fever have little to no symptoms. Feels like a bad allergy attach or minor bronchitis for a few days and that's it. I was in the 30% that will deal with it for a year or two, gets sucker punched for the first few months and then recover. The unlucky 10% (who are generally already in poor shape or otherwise compromised health wise) will suffer life long effects.

Two co-workers of my wife got VF really bad and both were hard core runners. One was in the hospital in rough shape for a week. The other got a portion of her lung removed.

[Roli]

I had Valley Fever as a ten year old in 1967 in Tucson. I woke up one day feeling like a ton of bricks were on my chest. A doctor gave me a skin test right away and I stayed home for a week. I felt fine afterwards, but I had a scar the size of a quarter on one lung! When I was eighteen and applying for the U of A, I had to have another chest x-ray to show that I didn't have tuberculosis. Luckily, the scar was healed completely, but I was terribly worried that I would have to try to explain the scar. My doctor had retired and medical records weren't always the best back then.

[xz2y]

Originally Posted by grmi66

I caught it at the tail end of last year. Went from doing a long, arduous day hike in the Grand Canyon, running a few trail races and setting a couple of PR's on my training loops late October and November to flat on my back for 6 weeks. Literally overnight got a 103 degree fever and severe pneumonia.

According to my pulmonologist and what I read online, 60% of the people that catch Valley Fever have little to no symptoms. Feels like a bad allergy attach or minor bronchitis for a few days and that's it. I was in the 30% that will deal with it for a year or two, gets sucker punched for the first few months and then recover. The unlucky 10% (who are generally already in poor shape or otherwise compromised health wise) will suffer life long effects.

Two co-workers of my wife got VF really bad and both were hard core runners. One was in the hospital in rough shape for a week. The other got a portion of her lung removed.

Whew! What a story! From what I've read, people who are outdoors a lot hiking, running, etc, are more at risk in terms of the "healthy" population. And your post suggests the same thing.

I'm sorry to hear that you were nailed with a bad attack of VF. Hopefully, you have recovered and are doing well.

Are you planning to change your outdoor activities in light of your VF history?

[xz2y]

Originally Posted by Roli

I had Valley Fever as a ten year old in 1967 in Tucson. I woke up one day feeling like a ton of bricks were on my chest. A doctor gave me a skin test right away and I stayed home for a week. I felt fine afterwards, but I had a scar the size of a quarter on one lung! When I was eighteen and applying for the U of A, I had to have another chest x-ray to show that I didn't have tuberculosis. Luckily, the scar was healed completely, but I was terribly worried that I would have to try to explain the scar. My doctor had retired and medical records weren't always the best back then.

Yeah, having that scar show up might have been a big problem with the x-ray 8 years later. And yes, medical records were mostly hand-written 39 years ago. Glad the scar healed and didn't show up.

Different question: I've not heard of colleges requiring chest x-rays for admission. I went to school in the east and midwest back in the 60's and 70's, and never had any type of medical screening requirement.

Was TB prevalent in the southwest 40 years ago?

[Roli]

I know it probably seems odd that the U of A required an x-ray, but tuberculosis is sometimes drug resistant. There were still tubercular clinics in Tucson when I was very young (early 1960s, maybe still into the late 1960s). I think I remember one on Speedway near the U of A. The residents were mostly old men. Penicillin might have been the only antibiotic in the 1960s and tuberculosis probably developed resistance. We were the tubercular recovery center for decades and decades before, because of the warm dry weather. Around town you may see very small homes grouped together. Some of those probably were tubercular rest homes. People often came out here alone...to die in those homes. There is plenty of interesting, fun history in our town, but some very sad things too!!

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by xz2y

Whew! What a story! From what I've read, people who are outdoors a lot hiking, running, etc, are more at risk in terms of the "healthy" population. And your post suggests the same thing.

I'm sorry to hear that you were nailed with a bad attack of VF. Hopefully, you have recovered and are doing well.

Are you planning to change your outdoor activities in light of your VF history?

You can only catch VF once, so no plans on changing anything. I've already been back the Grand Canyon for a long day hike last month and doing another one in two weeks. My only issue is that it left me feeling very fatigued, so I've had to curtail a lot of my training. Hopefully next year I'll be feeling myself again.