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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA deadly fungal disease on the rise in the West has experts worried
Zoya Teirstein Reporter
Published Sep 15, 2021
Topic Climate + Health
At 5 a.m. on December 4, 2017, Jesse Merrick got a text from his roommate. Hoping your family is OK, he remembers reading when he woke up. The Thomas Fire had just broken out in Southern California and was quickly
Researchers havent pinned down exactly whats behind the rise in Valley fever cases or how to stop it. One thing is nearly certain, though: Climate change plays a role.
At 5 a.m. on December 4, 2017, Jesse Merrick got a text from his roommate. Hoping your family is OK, he remembers reading when he woke up. The Thomas Fire had just broken out in Southern California and was quickly growing into a nearly 300,000-acre behemoth. Jesse frantically tried to reach his relatives in Ventura. When he finally got hold of his mom, she was broken. She answers the phone and shes crying hysterically, Jesse said. She says, Its gone. Its all gone.
The Merricks ranch-style home, with most of Jesses childhood stuff in it, burned down that day. A week after the fire, he flew out to help his mom salvage what was left. They spent days sifting through the rubble. Jesse, a former college football player, took on the strenuous task of sorting through the wreckage in the deep, charcoaled hull of their basement. The whole family wore masks to protect their lungs from the dust and gloves to shield their hands from sharp objects. But it wasnt protection enough from the danger lurking in the dirt.
Three weeks later, Jesse had to fly back home to Alabama, where he was working as a sportscaster. He was in charge of covering the annual Sugar Bowl college football game in New Orleans a big opportunity. But when he got there, something didnt feel right. I felt like I had gotten hit by a bus, he said. Jesse chalked it up to jet lag and pushed through with the broadcast. But his symptoms didnt subside. Instead, they got much, much worse. Within a couple of days, he was coughing and running a low-grade fever. A rash had appeared on his upper torso. I remember being miserable, he said. I wasnt sleeping. Once the rash started moving up his neck, about four days after he first started feeling sick, Jesse knew he had to get to an urgent care clinic.
https://grist.org/health/valley-fever-rising-us-west-wildfires-cocci-fungus/
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A deadly fungal disease on the rise in the West has experts worried (Original Post)
turbinetree
Sep 2021
OP
MLAA
(17,165 posts)1. Thanks for posting. I live in a Valley Fever hot spot so I appreciate the reminder.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)3. Your welcome......
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)2. Yikes! Due to climate change, the
fungal infection in dirt could spread from the SW all the way to Canada. Nasty stuff.