A desert fungus that infects humans is spreading
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- Опубликовано: 23 июн 2023
- ... And scientists don't fully understand why.
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Check out the article by Keren Landman on Vox.com for more: www.vox.com/the-highlight/236...
Out of the millions of fungal species in the world, only a few hundred can make people sick. Coccidioides is one of them - and it lives in desert dust. Microscopic spores are kicked up when the ground is disturbed; if inhaled, they can cause an infection known as Valley fever. Most people recover without ever knowing they had it, but others will experience far more intense symptoms, ranging from pneumonia to meningitis. Coccidioides is also really good at eating … meat.
Fortunately, this fungus is typically only found in the southwestern US, parts of Mexico, and Central and South America - and cases are rare. But unfortunately, that range is expanding quickly. Scientists are racing to understand exactly why, because even though this fungus has existed for millennia, there are still tons of unanswered questions about how it lives both in the desert and in people.
Further reading:
Bridget Barker is one of the authors of the endozoan hypothesis. You can read her study co-authored by John Taylor here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30690....
This article talks about the need for prevention methods: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
You can find the study that predicts the spread of Coccidioides here: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.c...
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Ah yes. Environmental horrors beyond my comprehension.
My favorite!
Tonight?😊
@@DO7700ER Very nice. I would like to add," Another or More".
A desert fungus that infects humans is spreading 1824pm 24.6.23 kaka phoney!!!
@@user-ts5lz2fc7f The fact that no one has heard of it despite likely tens or hundreds of thousands of infections is the very problem.
You know, the fact that most mammals have a body temperature of 36.6+ C - is a protection against funguses. Having fungus that survives hot environments is pretty disturbing news 😮
Do you have a source for this?
That's so interesting considering before I watched a video about someones concern being fungus and what happens if it adapts to temperatures that normally kills it.
Yeah watch last of us and see how it goes :D
@@Birthday92sex you can find this info in any Microbiology/ lifescience textbooks and you can find the manuals on incubators and read the protocols they use for cellines.. All described and explained. This have been well documented for over a 100 years.
@@paradoxicube52I was just talking about this with someone yesterday. Rewatching The Last Of Us, the part before the infection spreads where the doctor is saying 'what if the global temperature raises a bit and the fungi adapts'. Considering our body temp doesn't allow it to bother us, adaptation with rising temps is twilight zone freaky
With this organism, it isn't just spores. Thd mycelium itself fractures and is easily airborne . It was the one fungal organism at Southwest Texas State University we weren't allowed to grow in class.
its bio warfare.. I would have to think you can see that...
Is there anything that consumes most fungi but is harmless to humans? Such as slime molds? I'm wondering if we grew a biofilm inside our homes if that would heal people infected with fungus. Or if we can just grow something to eat the fungus in the environment.
What I've learned from my father getting valley fever when I was young is that it can't survive in high altitude...we moved to the mountains and he got better❤
Does cold temperatures impair it?
@@billycrunches8117 not sure but I think it's the high altitude that the fungus can't survive in.
Hotels in Tarahumara country (upwards of 8,000 feet in elevation) are very popular.
No wonder it’s called Valley fever. It can’t survive up on the high mountains!
False.
Important note(that was somehow omitted from the video): coccidiomycosis DOES NOT have human to human transmission.
DOES NOT YET
Last of Us awaits
can confirm, I have a parent I've looked after for the past 6 years with it and there's no such thing as transmission. You have to be in an area where spores are kicked up by air, you feet, inhaled, etc
That's what they want you to think.
Thank you for that piece of information. As a European, I had no idea if this could be transmitted, whether anyone can 'recover' from it, and whether there is a treatment for it. This video makes it sound like a one way journey to a coffin.
Thank you for letting me know.
This was literally my first thought as the video ended: Wait, what about human to human transmission? This is critical information and they just don't even discuss it whatsoever lol.
I got valley fever just before my 18th birthday in the mid 80s; I was living in Tucson at the time. Pneumonia in one lung, and a hive-like rash head to toe. English does not have the words to describe how miserable it was.
Miserable?
@@jayjya
Not enough.
BRUH I LIVE IN TUCSON IVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS
Glad you recovered- are there antibodies to it now?
does chinese or other languages have it then
If you've ever watched a TV drug commercial in which the announcer says something like "...tell your doctor if you've been to a place where certain fungal infections are common...," this is one of those infections. Histoplasmosis (Ohio Valley fever) is another very common one. From a medical perspective, fungal infections are one of the hardest types of infections to treat/cure. They are notorious for being resistant to total eradication.
high altitude has been stated to render the fungi inactive , gotta move to the mountains
aw jeeez.....
Histoplasmosis almost killed me.
Until one cant find a medic to even ADMIT it exists ! Utah wont recognize or report. It is spreading
I've lived in California's San Joaquin Valley for 40+ years (the valley that the disease is named for) . Valley fever is just kind of a known risk around here. It's really important to wear good masks when dust is being kicked up, but a lot of people tend to get it, and it can do really weird things to the human body. My step-dad got skin abscesses and lesions on his forehead, for example. It would be nice if the increased attention finally gets us a vaccine, though.
At least around here, it's considered pretty treatable, but it's tricky to diagnose if the doctor isn't looking for it.
Antifungals are also a lot better than they were in the past so treatment after identification is likely better than it has been before.
You can't vaccinate against a fungus. Go back to high school biology class.
I am also from a desert valley in the SW US and Valley Fever is well known. I tested positive for exposure as a child (over 50 years ago) and have never had any symptoms or illnesses related to it. I do remember a high-school counselor who came up with masses in his lungs, and when they went in to operate (they were expecting a tumor) they found a lump of fungus the size of a small orange. He survived the operation by about 40 years, and everybody was relieved it was not cancer
Frankly, I find this presentation to be overstated, and people need to be MUCH more concerned with Hantavirus, which is associated with rodent dung and can be present in dirt in the southwest
When I was in grade school in Phoenix, my teacher got VF and was out of school for 9 months.
@@garysmcdermott That is horrifying
Phoenix resident for many years now, In 2012 I contracted valley fever and my mom did too a few years before. She got it much worse and then she contracted a flesh eating bacteria (I forget the technical name). Unfortunately she had to have large amounts of skin and muscle tissue removed which left her unable to walk but she did pull through. I lost her in 2017 partially from the toll all this took. My family were in good health till we moved to this God forsaken desert.
I think the technical term is "necrotizing fasciitis"
@@gerritkorditschke8447 that's it! I haven't said those words in a long time.
So sorry to hear this. Hope you get out of this darkness.
@@PasleyAviationPhotographywhy tho
@@deleted-somethingtf you mean "why tho?" It's not something you'd say every day and if it affects your family members this badly you'd probably actively try to avoid thinking about it
I cared for a person with this. Chest tubes could barely keep up with the air leaks. The lungs were dissolving on ct scan. Everyone had their jaws dropped on the floor, as we are in the north and never saw it before. Very sad.
Thats really disturbing to hear
@@iamnotsure237 it's the only one I've ever seen, and it was horrid. There was nothing we could do. I've been a nurse 31 years.
@@MarianneKatso the patient eventually died?
@@lolawants2008 no they grew new lungs 🫁. Their healthy now
@@Departedreflectionsnahh bro thinks we can regenerate ☠️
If anyone read, "Esperanza Rising", this is the disease that Esperanza's mother got in the book. Her mother was in the hospital for a month or more and was super depressed. I had no idea how bad it really can be
I had forgotten about that book. But I will never forget how she described her mothers hair as smelling of sweet bread before it is baked.
That's the one where she runs to America after her father is murdered and her uncles are really bad.
I loved that book
I couldn't think of that books name about a year ago (I read it 15 years ago) and now I remember it. Thank you.
Thank you for that! Loved that book, need to re-read it
Valley fever is a big worry in AZ. The common thought is "don't go out during a habub because the dust storms drag up the fungus from the dirt and carries it in the storm."
So no Rats needed to spread it
my dad lays foundation in arizona and he's been concerned that he has had dormant valley fever for years now. thank you for making this video!
If he had a latent fungal infection, he wouldn't have symptoms
@@wasnt.here.3853 No but he lays foundations so he thinks he might have it despite not having symptoms.
Cancer is a fungus and the Governments have been hiding this for a century
Most people who spend years in endemic areas have had prior infection that may or may not have become "dormant" valley fever, whether they work in the dirt or not.
If the fungus is walled off in his lungs, it's uncommon for people with ongoing exposure to develop symptomatic illness in the context of immunosupression. Like, it's not just lurking in his lungs waiting for the opportunity to make him critically ill.
It's not tuberculosis.
Latent. That's the word I was trying to think of lol
I've lived in the Sonoran Desert (southern AZ) my whole life, but I was infected and developed valley fever in December of 2006. It started with the most extreme exhaustion I've ever felt, then developed into a full-body, very itchy rash. My energy levels returned to ~75% relatively quickly, but the rash stayed for weeks and my lung function plummeted for months (though not to the point of hospitalization). I could only get comfortable breaths in a somewhat slouched position, and my doctor treated me for walking pneumonia (he suspected valley fever, but didn't want to use systemic antifungals yet). I got progressively better, so it seemed like the treatment was working, but then I relapsed in June of 2007, after which I was treated with antifungals. Because it's not contagious, I was able to keep going to school and living my normal teenage life, but I was very clearly ill from an outside perspective. I was finally cleared of the illness in February of 2008 after 14 months of doctors visits, x-rays, CT scans, and more. Once cleared, my doctors told me that if I ever moved East, I'd have to tell my new doctors that the permanent ~1in nodule on my lung was from valley fever, as said disease is almost nonexistent in that part of the world, and they'd likely interpret it as lung cancer if detected. I always assumed I'd get better, and was never scared while struggling with it, but as an adult, I can look back and say confidently that it was no joke.
My aunt spent a lot of time in Arizona, and while living in Pennsylvania came down with chronic lung disease. For lack of a better understanding, doctors diagnosed her with COPD (even though she had none of the risk factors for COPD). It wasn't until shortly before she died that a specialist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore determined that she had Valley Fever.
@@uwiwithanuzi I'm sorry to hear that, and I hope videos like this help prevent such outcomes in the future.
@@uwiwithanuzimany water damaged homes are loaded with toxic mold spores inside
I live in Phoenix and I have chronic valley fever. I also have lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. I've had it disseminate several times now causing meningitis and more commonly abscesses on my body and in my lungs. It's the worst thing to ever happen to me.
How much have you spent in medical costs due to it, do you think?
Misery! I'm so sorry. I hope you find some way to get healing.
So very sorry to hear about all this. May you find healing, relief, and strength. ❤
A year after moving out of the City and into the desert one of my dogs contracted it. We caught it early and treatment cleared it up in a year. However the medication did damage to his liver. Then a year later I contracted it.
I have nodules in my lungs. I have to be tested every three months to make sure it's not active. We didn't realize it but it had spread to my spine where it sat undetected for three years. It ate away at my vertebrae and I ended up in the E.R. After they did an MRI I was rushed into surgery. Seven hours later I was put back together.
> Seven hours later I was put back together.
why does it sound like you're made of disassemble pieces? what are you, an Ikea shelf?
lol sorry bout what you've been through
Didn't think the last of us would be getting another addition to the franchise but here we are
so excited for this DLC 😀
Why are you guys so obsessed with a game? 🤮
@@batman_2004Ok Batman!
@@batman_2004ok Batman
@@batman_2004 the show has raised its popularity
As mentioned in the video, it's been around for millennia. My (non scientific) guess on why it's affecting us more over time: we get into its territory more. More contact opportunities (including the rats we bring with us) lead to more infections, lead to more spread. Also: it seems to like dry places and the weather-, maybe even climate-conditions suit it well. Another factor that is at the very least partly caused by humans. I obviously don't know if it's this simple. But I would be surprised if these are not a factors in the equation.
The rats spreading this fungus are native to the desert, not the pest kind of rats that are associated with human activity. Increased human activity in infected areas probably causes more human infections, sure, but humans aren't dying in the desert and spreading the fungus.
It's probably the fungi mentioned in the book of Exodus that caused all the plagues in Egypt.
A desert fungus that infects humans is spreading 24.6.23 1826pm anything to have us become mycophobes...
Is Climate change a factor?
@@spidermonkae Comments on ‘A desert fungus that infects humans is spreading’ 24.6.23 1851am seems like an old tale. perhaps colder climes held it in dormancy? maybe if it strikes Europe - if this is genuine fungal invasion - then France would do well to sort it's farming techniques out as they seem to use a lot of sand atop the soil the grow their crops in... other than that - do we really care? we've allus had warm temps during the summer it would have manifested long before now, wouldn't it?
I've never heard of this fungus infection before, and I live in Northern Mexico. I think it's important to point that most people exposed to the fungus don't develop an infection, and most of those who get an infection have a recover by themselves, only a few get the bad infection described in the video (according to the CDC).
Yeah, she said that in the first few minutes of the video…
If you've ever lived in Phoenix AZ you've heard about it.
Wrong. If you never even heard of it before this video, what on earth gives you the right to make such a statement? All of Mexico is not a desert. You probably don't even live where this is a risk. If you do and have been lucky not to get it yet, that doesn't mean other people don't get it.
The loss of my brother to this condition was truly devastating. It's an incredibly difficult way to meet one's end. The chances of passing away from it are akin to winning a terrible lottery. Go to a concert in the dessert they said, it'll be fun they said...
I always try to remind people about this. You can’t be in the dust storms. We moved away from the area that had it worse but anytime I see dust in the air I think about it. Pups get it so much from their noses in the soil and people never get why I don’t let my dogs get all in the soil / dirt.
All the chemicals that are in the dirt will make you sick and weak so fungal issues can happen. It's not the fungal issues causing the problem. When fungal issues are present it is a key to look for what is actually causing the illness. Fungal issues don't help when you are ill but they are not the CAUSE of the illness.
I wonder how sugar may effect the fungus. I know sugar can cause irritation and inflammation in the body, which can weaken the immune system, but I wonder if this fungus has any interest in sugar like other fungus' sometimes do.
As a nearly lifelong resident of Arizona, I avoid inhaling dust when possible. Valley Fever is the least of my worries. Aspergillosis is a real concern, as is silicosis. Even hantavirus - a _really_ nasty respiratory virus that can become systemic - can be spread by blowing dust. Asthma and acute bronchitis are on the list.
"Chemicals" have nothing to do with fungi... the assumption you are making is that "Chemicals = bad" but even while that is half true, the desert is a large area and environment and "fungi" are a type of organism that will work and thrive regardless of how many Chemicals you're assuming about especially if they can adapt or thrive in warmer weather thanks to human affected global warming thanks to greedy companies who dump Chemicals into rivers, lakes and seas which affect the atmosphere layers and thus creates a human made disruption of the environment that will bite the same human meddlers back.
Aspergillosis can be fatal to people with compromised immune systems, and unless you're one of those people I wouldn't worry that much about that. Also, if you are not exposed to silica on a regular basis, then chances of getting silicosis is low. I'd say it's more likely to get hantavirus, because of the abundance of rats...I'd still be very concerned about Toxoplasmosis too for that matter. Valley fever is still a concern imo. Also! Microplastics are also a big concern--because we don't even know what they can do to oir bodies in the long run.
"We don't want to scare you by telling you that a strange desert fungus resistent to high temperatures that spreads through soil without noticing is infecting all organisms by eating them from inside, but that's what happens"
🤣🤣
Nihilism for the win!
No, doesn't scare me, it petrified me. This is really serious, folks.
Right? Like, okay, what do I do now?
Given the health issues I had after moving to Arizona that a doctor attributed to valley fever I... think I'm going to get tested. Given how persistent the symptoms have been for the past 15 years.
Maybe wait a couple of years before rushing to the doc? Might go away any day now. Like magic.
@@dasstigma bruh
omg, pls go to the doctor asap
I grew up in southern Arizona and had a mild case when I was a teen. Here in California a baby died from valley fever after the 1994 Northridge earthquake when landslides in the hills near the fault. The initial quake and the larger aftershocks generated dust clouds.
"So Texas is one of those areas that you know, they just don't report the disease nationally"
I am shooketh
I’m not surprised. It’s Texas.
Yeah and our governor being the kind that doesn't really care about us won't believe it anyway. I live in Texas, in the Dallas area.
@@fredachildress3728 Miss having a nanny?
@@xenunoMiss daddy's belt?
@@xenunocan you explain how reporting on disease is a bad thing?
Doctors back East don't know how to promptly diagnose "Vally Fever", if you feel ill (congested-short on breath) after visiting out West make sure to tell your doctor to specifically test for it. Don't mess around, it's a killer condition to contract.
My uncle was living in Phoenix, AZ got the worst case of valley fever the infectious disease doctor ever saw. He died from it a few years ago. He was never out in the desert. He just played golf.
Microbiology was one of the most fascinating courses I have ever taken. Viruses, bacteria & funguses, totally blow my mind.
My mother died from this in suburban Phoenix. I was kinda numb to the explanations at the time. This is helpful information.
I'm so sorry she died and you have to go through such sadness.
New fear unlocked.
🤣🤣
I had Valley Fever in 1975. Ended up having half of my left lung removed. I was in the hospital for 2 months. Not Fun.
My West Highlands Terrier born in Tucson Meto got "valley Fever" that settled in his eye. I had the vet remove his eye and he lived to be 12. That is when I learned about Valley Fever. Glad you are reporting on it.
)):
I had a family friend that contracted this while on vacation in Arizona, (we live in Virginia)right as covid started. They didnt know what was wrong with him since he tested negative for the flu and the hospital put him in the covid unit. He ended up with valley fever AND covid.
did he make it out alright?!? that’s horrible i can’t imagine what he went through
🤣🤣
He shoulda bought a lotto ticket after that
@@diana-yj1vm he was in the hospital for a while, but yes, he did recover.
@@mandyhenretty glad he recovered
oh goodness--
Sitting in an extended care nursing facility in Tucson with 2 chest tubes right now for a case I think I initially contracted in October last year. When it got bad enough for doctors to treat it like pneumonia using intravenous antibiotics for a week starting may 17th , my left lung collapsed 2 days after my first release from the hospital and wasn't for another couple weeks they finally identified it as Valley fever.
Tricky stuff, fingers crossed. May not be home for another month if I'm even that lucky.
Sure hope we find some means to nuke this stuff out of existence before it nukes us...
Took me a year to get over it, sounds like your going to make it.
@rogermartin404 thanks for the vote of confidence friend, I could sure use it.
Get well soon, you got this 💪🏼
Hope you get better soon.
Sending you prayers for healing!
My cat had Valley Fever back in 2016. Thankfully, he recovered, but it was slow. I think it was about 3 years before he no longer needed medication for it.
I spend my winters in the Southwest and I got Cocci (Valley Fever) two years ago. I got tested when I started having fatigue and shortness of breath. My dog had it too. She tested positive again this year. Not sure if it was just dormant two years ago or if she got it again.
She has to be on anti-fungal for up to 6 months. It's scary that this is getting worse.
Had Valley Fever back in 2007 and it nearly killed me. I contracted it after a desert walk in the SE Phoenix valley and haven’t returned since. Thanks for bringing awareness!
Do you think you inhaled dust at some point? Or how do you think you got it? Was it windy? Or were just doing a regular hike?
@@tovarco I became sick within days of a desert hike with friends outside Queen Creek. We were just out exploring desert trails and don’t recall it being windy. It baffled me when I was diagnosed having never heard of it before.
@@jameshaning Well thats scary obviously. Just a hike....like we dont have enough things to worry about in this world.
I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and my parents were there for 13. Valley Fever is no joke and is well known in the area. My dad got it as fungal pneumonia and was in the hospital for 3 days. I had a coworker who got it and had to have a lung removed. I remember there was a baseball player who got it and couldn't play cause his lung capacity was so shot. Also it was pretty well acknowledged in the valley that you were at greater risk for valley fever after a monsoon rolled thru.
Jesus dude!
Cancer is a fungus and the Governments have been hiding this for a century
Did you dad recovered? How long did it took him to recover?
@YAWPonthemic yeah he did - it took probably 6 months to a year to be back to 100%?
Even more reason for me to avoid those desert states.
Im a respiratory therapist right outside of Philadelphia, i actually just had a patient with this!! He had been in Vegas on vacation. Obviously, we were pretty perplexed since we dont usually see this on the east coast.
There's a reason why we're told to stay inside when dust storms sweep through Arizona. Valley Fever cases spike right after the spores are kicked up into the air by the storms.
Decades ago, a severe dust storm spread dust from Bakersfield to Sacramento and the Bay Area. As I recall two primates at the San Francisco zoo died of Valley Fever because of that storm.
I had valley fever when I was 21. My dad got it the same year as I did but got much sicker than I did. My lung problems went away when I moved somewhere cold and the temperature dropped below freezing. Maybe it was coincidence, I don’t know. What I do know is this; valley fever is no joke.
STOP YOU'RE SCARING ME
4:43
Cocci stay dormant then it will eat people while they’re alive 😱
I am never visiting the Western half of the United States
I had valley fever in phoenix every year for almost a decade. it led to pneumonia several times. since i moved back to Oregon I have only had bronchial pneumonia once.
I live in the Phoenix area and just completed a one year course of strong anti-fungal medication to fight off this very disease that nearly killed me. Super scary stuff.
I live in Los Angeles. A friend of my dad died of valley fever. He was a heavy equipment operator in construction. Seems to me he cought it working up in the San Joaquin Valley. He was an invalid for years before he died.
What do you mean by invalid?
@@yuniaaniza5120 Couldn't work, slightest exertion left him gasping, even just getting out of bed, took oxygen wherever he went, though he didn't go many places other than the doctor's office. He had also been a smoker for many years, which didn't help at all, but he didn't have cancer.
@@yuniaaniza5120 its an old term for disabled
@@CAMacKenzie poor guy, may he rest easy
@@michaelcandido2824 wow that's horrible
My guess would be the long-dormancy variant strains probably have evolved to target desert locusts that are cyclically active, as a measure to both not waste a host's resources, and also provide itself a vector into larger creatures that would consume the locusts. Fungus is usually very good at adapting to manipulate and work with a variety of species, plant and animal, so a more complicated web of life involving the desert rats, and insect life, would be a safe assumption.
I don't know where are you getting this but it is incorrect. Species of fungi that can cause disease in mammals, can only cause disease in mammals. It is very hard for a complex organism, like fungi, to evolve quickly to attack a completely different group of organisms. So The Last of Us is very unlikely evolutionary speaking to happen.
Not mammals
Hmmmmm...I wonder if this is what everybody has been getting in LA. I had a upper respiratory infection for six weeks with cough, phlegm, and low-grade fever. A ton of people had that cough and phlegm recently.
I was in a class in 2009. We left for Spring Break and one guy didn't come back right away. After another week, a fellow student announced he died. He was playing volleyball in the desert. SWEET KID!
I have been living with Valley Fever since my late 20s when I got it in Tucson and my spinal cord was definitely affected. Long-term reoccurring inflammation would occur in dry dusty conditions, so I moved to a humid moderate climate. Yes, it is just biding it's time. My personal opinion is that Valley Fever is much more dangerous than Covid.
Look into hops tea or tincture. Fresher is better.
What are your symptoms for spinal cord damage?
I am surprised the immune system can't counter such a fungus.
@@ironknightgaming5706 Many people's immune systems are compromised including from toxic chemicals.
@@ironknightgaming5706 Human immune systems don't come into contact with parasitic fungi very often, other than skin infections e.g. Tinea. Even with the skin our immune systems generally can't clear them on their own, and need help from medications. They are not like bacteria, they are a completely separate type of lifeform, neither animal nor plant. It's pretty scary that this one can remain dormant in the system long term.
Huge props to the people making the vaccine
Thats the thing...its a fungus. Their is no vaccine. I hope thats not the truth.
You can't have a vaccine against something that does what it is supposed to do. There is no contagion. The fungus is doing what it does. If you are healthy you will have no issues. Are you healthy? A healthy environment is not a place where these can propagate in mass. Unhealthy and all bets are off. What are the toxins in your environment that are making you sick? Hint, it's not the fungus. It is man made toxins which pervade our environment and make you ill, sick, and weak so these normal things take over.
Hope it's an actual vaccine. unlike the other for certain eastern bug one.
@@LookingGlass69 I'm a little skeptic. Mold are pretty complex and tricky organisms with a lot of ressouces.
We got a lot of antibiotics from them to fight bacterial infections. But we should now prepare to have some tools against them because it's not only this one that poses problem more and more. A diverse choice of tools, treatments and molecules.
Considering the low impact on populations that are living in known endemic areas (like me, my family, and all my friends) I doubt it will make much of a splash. A much greater threat is skin cancer - I have had three squamous tumors removed in recent years, all from my right forearm - and we still don't take that seriously.
A bunch of Valley Fever cases came up after the Northridge Quake. I visited Mom a couple years after in OC, and had some really awful lung issues that time.
Legitimately Valley Fever is what i want to do my master's thesis on, I'm currently working on a GIS cert as the foundational work to what I want to/think I need to study. I'm an archaeologist in southern California, but I also have lived on military bases out here before moving out here after college. I believe my family may have been exposed on one base, and I didn't even know this disease existed until nearly 10 years later when I did my archaeology field school in the San Joaquin Valley. Since then I've maintained a nacent curiosity about this disease, and it just keeps feeling more urgent to study as I meet more and more construction workers, fellow archaeologists, and Native American monitors admit to having had it, or in one case where I realized what the guy's problem was before his doctor.
I really want to get into studying this so bad, I think there's a major social justice, climate change, and historical culmination of data here that I want to help suss out for the goal of hopefully reducing total cases.
When I grew up in California, we heard about "diseases in the soil" all the time. I'm guessing this was it.
Really digging the micro Vox videos. There’s so many bugs that are morbidly fascinating to cover, from opportunistic fungi like cocci to necrotizing fasciitis.
oh, and don't forget drug resistant bugs
I have chronic valley fever from doing HVAC work in Arizona. Im in my late 20s and it feels like im in my 50s
I had a formal boss who caught it decades ago, but he had an outbreak almost 20 years later, which was sad bc the last time i saw him, he looked like half the man he used to be.
If it's spreading north into the midwest, that is where our crops are. Couldn't it get into our food products, then shipped anywhere?
You literally just described the start of The Last of Us
More crops you eat come from California than the Midwest
GG humanity
We are all already infected the fungus is just buying it's time to make a move.
I got it years ago in AZ and I can pinpoint the moment I got it too, it was when a maintenance worker was clearing out some old piles of brush. The process made a huge dust cloud and I got a breath of it.
Even though I got a fairly mild case (I recovered in 3 months without hospitalization or medication) there's another symptom that isn't really discussed and this is POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), something that Long Covid sufferers have. I was getting really severe night sweats, I would wake up freezing and my shirt drenched. After a simple walk to my driveway I was incredibly winded, to the point where I felt like throwing up. I had to recover from that 5 minute walk my laying in bed for a few hours. Even after a year, my lung function wasn't really back to normal.
I was fairly active before coming down with it but it felt like it took forever to get back to normal. It would be terrible if Valley Fever became widespread. Even the mild case that I had was totally miserable and demoralizing. It felt like I would be sick forever.
I also no longer live in Arizona and while I consider it an absolutely gorgeous state, it's not somewhere I'd live again. If I had known then about Valley Fever I probably would have thought twice of going there for University.
@@junicornplays980Arizona..Gorgeous 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
You must live in Sand Tutus or something
The fact that I have an ear infection and the doctor said that I have fungi in my ear is not reassuring.
Excellent journalism, as usual. Great work from Vox. Thank you for always increasing your standards and quality.
I just knew climate change is going to factor into this, just like the melting permafrost.
Wait...
It's even been found in the lungs of various mammals...
Including _dolphins._
Must've gotten close to the south west coast of the US.
Dolphins breath air.
dolphins are mammals
Dolphins are mammals
Dauphins are French
Appreciate the content, just came across your channel! 😊
Very helpful. Well done and thank you!
New hard mode DLC just dropped
Ever since HBO MAX " The Last of Us" hit series🔥 debate the media has finally taken notice of fungus infecting humans, hope this fund more research & projects to getting us a vaccine.
We can’t create vaccines against fungal infections, just antifungal remedies
They made the "last of us" to acclimate the world to the idea of a fungal virus they're cooking in their labs, so that when it comes people say, 'oh, it's just like that show.'
The Last of Us was right 🫠
@@affectedrl5327you mean anthropologists
Fml I live in the San Joaquin Valley. There is so much dust here. I remember when I first moved here I was baffled by the amount of dust the could accumulate on the surfaces of my home in just one or two weeks. And I didn't even live in the countryside. This is very humbling to remember that humans as a species are not invincible. What an interesting lifeform, this fungus.
I disagree with the rodent hypothesis, the desert is very dry and the kangaroo rat body would dry out within a day or two. What I have seen is the increase over the years of off-road vehicles increasing the amount of dust in the air, the spores being carried by the wind..
I’m with you. Desert off-road vehicles, construction and the wind…
I had this in 2014 and it was pretty bad. Flu like symptoms and gave me a rash throughout my body, and was seen in my lungs. Was diagnosed with "dry" or walking pneumonia too.
how was the recovery
You didn’t turn into a clicker?
Yeah, I'd be surprised if half the planet isn't mutants by December
😭😭
its giving the last of us
@@KarateLaurenbeen looking for this comment
That’s the plan of the establishment
Thanks for this valuable information. I wish I had found a video as useful as this 20 years ago.
I lived in Mesa Arizona just outside of Phoenix from 1992 to 1996. I remember seeing a couple billboards and commercials warning and describing Valley Fever's mild symptoms, but never realized that I had ever gotten those symptoms. I worked in construction as a rough framer for many of the booming development areas in Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa areas. The construction sites usually became covered with a very dry "moondust" that would become airborne when the wind would blow or even walking through (The fungus residing in the soil as this video explains). In 1996 I then moved to Beaverton Oregon, where in 2001 I ended up in the emergency room due to sudden complications in breathing. Found out my right lung somewhat decomposed in areas and had completely collapsed. After conducting a culture test, Doctors found it to be the cocci fungus. But, only after surgically removing the damaged area and over 2 years of hospital procedures including chemotherapy(Amphotericin B) were they able to get my lung to stay adhered to the chest cavity. The theory for my contraction of the fungus was that it had attached itself and slowly grown over the years until it completely ate through my upper lobe (But now maybe I think it was more dormant as this video suggests...). It wasn't until years after this event that in hindsight, I do remember getting what I thought was a bad "allergic" reaction to cactus bloomage just a couple months prior to moving to Beaverton. It wiped me out physically for around 4 days with slight breathing issues and fatigue. I did not see a doctor for the symptoms. I'm not sure if that was the moment it was contracted, but looking back it sure seems like it.
If you live near these areas, breath dust occasionally, and happen to get a slight "breathing" issue and body fatigue, go get checked out. I'm sure in these "hot" areas’ doctors have methods to diagnose and tackle coccidioidomycosis/Valley Fever faster and more efficiently now. I'm glad to see that there is more information available on the internet concerning this. At the time I contracted cocci and it had revealed itself, there seemed to be very little in-depth "informative" information on it.
As a side note, I have not looked for any more information on Coccidioidomycosis since 2004 when I had finally beat it. I only ran across this video as a suggestion from the RUclips algorithm. I was shocked that you're showing the desert part of southeastern Washington state is now considered a hot spot. I was raised and grew up in Kennewick WA until my late 20’s and reside there again now since 2013. Needless to say, I'll wear a mask or won't be outside if the dust picks when the wind blows anymore!
When I lived in Phoenix in the 70's, it was assumed that everyone got valley fever. Most people feel kind of meh for a day or two. We only hear about it when people get really sick. There was a guy who successfully sued a construction company for not watering the dirt down enough during road construction, blaming them for him getting valley fever. Probably not true but I think he still won if I remember correctly
The scientists seemed frustrated with TX not reporting, we’re all frustrated with TX on many, MANY, levels.
Let them go then.
texas will deal with texas. state police should be funded more and the FBI defunded
Yes we are haha
@@mr.puddles5246lol I think you need to look into how much texas relies on federal tax money to fill the major gaps in their funding budgets
Although the 3 mentioned hypotheses are quite constructive as to why coccidiodes is spreading and able to migrate, it is a shame that little attention is given to the effect on human migration and activity. Although it is a completely different fungus, Candida vultura has proven that infiltration of humans into new habitats and overexposure to "novel" fungi can cause a host shift (this opportunistic pathogenic yeast used to exclusively thrive on plants, but eventually made a host shift to humans).
Glad to @Vox shine some light on the world of medical mycology. There's a lot work to be done to make sure fungi won't become a major threat in the future. Perhaps an idea to make a video about the rise of multidrug resistent (rare) fungi (e.g. Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida auris and Trichosporon Asahii) and its relation to overextensive use of antifungals in agriculture :)
quick sidenote: apparently the species name is actually Candida vulturna, if you're looking to do a copy-paste Google search
but yes, good comment
It leaves scares in the lungs that can be confused TB. If you travel to the south west and get home in the east then get sick tell the MD you had been to the south west and valley fever is a possibility.
Thanks for this post.
I live in Arizona and my best friend caught this a few months ago. He said it was kind of like COVID in that it caused more serious cold symptoms, but it did long term damage to his lungs. He thought it was COVID and went to the doctor, but sure enough, Valley Fever. Fortunately it’s not serious damage, but it’s there. In these parts we’re used to it and we’ve been studying it for a long time, but I worry about how other parts of the world would handle it.
This fungus is very common in birds, so it has a mobile delivery system. You discover this quickly when raising parrots.....
Much Love to your channel guys❤️, also having an arabic captains would be great .
My father died of a brain fungus in 2020. This is scary.
So sorry for your loss, may he rest in peace 🙏🏼
I think I’m going to stay in the cold places now.
I've heard of it before but it's the first documentary thanks!
Always interesting, thanks.
One of my professors got Valley fever February of 2020. It presented pretty similarly to COVID and honestly the man shouldn't have been coming in for work. He looked hella rough.
I live in California’s high desert, and when an earthquake happened a couple years back there were some cases of Valley Fever. The earthquake kicked dust in there air which caused the cases.
Ah, you must mean the one in Ridgecrest in 2019. Yeah, that was fun…
I was there for that! Scary weekend, had no idea about the uptick in valley fever though.
Very well done. Thanks!
Great presentation - well done (and somewhat scary)
The fungus, probably : "The only place drier than the desert is... the human heart. Perfect place for us!"
My mothers dog got valley fever, and they had to put it down after it reached his brain. All it could do was walk in circles.
Poor guy
Oh cool, parasitic human fungus was on my apocalypse bingo sheet
Wow I work and live in the BRC Ranch also Black Rock City when we build it. In the Nevada desert 6 to 7 months out of the year. I will definitely be looking into it! Thank you
I'd be interested to know if native populations are more resistant to this or not.
That's one of my personal research questions actually, this is what I want to study for my masters.
Keep us posted! That sounds really interesting!@@afreaknamedallie1707
@@monsieurprince I have not even started 😅 I have been working on some post bachelor's certificates as a stepping stone to the masters (GIS for one of them, feels necessary) but this is still the goal project for me.
Why on earth does this have to be the first thing in my feed today?! 😂
I know a couple people with valley fever. Irs been in kern county for my whole life. They thought it was a shark virus and that people cought it digging in certain areas. The people i know with it have flair ups making things like stable employment hard but our system is not set up to help such people
You mean from people digging up shark teeth from Shark Tooth Mountain? I noticed they mention you need to wear a mask to go digging there…
Thank you for making this video! Terrifying but it's good to know!
Ah, I do not like to learn about this as we enter an unprecedented el nino season
Ah, another reason I don’t mind living near the Great Lakes. The only thing I have to worry about is my kids getting tetanus from playing in abandoned car factories.
Do you feel like suggesting a town or an area..? Something has been telling me to go that way but I am completely unfamiliar
hopefully they are vaccinated against it, cos then they are totally safe
@@lolawants2008Chicagoland is potentially expensive but has calm suburbs with plenty of jobs, and decently progressive (by U.S. standards) policies, meaning protections for unions, taxes for corporations high enough that towns can actually afford to keep the roads paved, ect.
Louisville seemed surprisingly nice when I visited there, but you'd have to deal with conservative policies in Indiana or Kentucky.
@@lolawants2008Alaska’s the best place to survive the apocalypse if you wanna move there ;)
that and the heroin
Very interesting, and well done video. The host is stellar. Thanks.
It's no joke, I was in the hospital with a guy who had VF.
Me, a father of children still in the dirt-eating phase of life in New Mexico:😳😳😳😳😳
As long as they don’t breathe it into their lungs, no problem. Worry instead about avoiding the outdoors when the wind blows hard.
Use a Chancla to stop them eating dirt. Don't risk their health.
@Cyb3r-vz9nh Children do not fight off infections better than Adults lol. That is, in fact, the reason why we see historically higher death rates amongst children 0-5 than adults in all populations.
It’s New Mexico. The wind blows hard all the time. We have street signs all over the place that warm of the potential of sudden dust storms…