fyi
valley fever is a lung fungal infection usually obtained by breathing in fungal spores in parts of calif or arizona
60 % usually resolve with mild flu like symptoms, but it can be severe pneumonia, and even disseminate to other parts of the body/meningitis, requiring substantial long term treatment, sometimes amputation or death. pregnancy, immune deficiency, diabetes, age, are factors. severity is greatest in some ethnic groups, primarily filipino and african americans...i wonder if severity is like coronavirus and based partially on genetics...
here is some info i find it interesting and possibly some parallels to coronavirus.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/5/5/99-0508_article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3012635/
I survived a non-disseminated but severe pneumonia case of valley fever, probably aggravated by use of cortisone-immune system suppressant two days prior to inhaling spores when I was caught in a freak multiple dust devil storm at dusk in kern county farmland, fortunately my primary care doctor diagnosed it immediately! I had to take fluconazole for a whole year and had my blood titer levels checked regularly. My specialist had recently lost two patients, a doctor and his son to valley fever. Needless to say coronavirus concerns me greatly having had a possible similar experience before.
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Winning!
A relative of mine had this. He had No idea when he had it. Found out when a CT done that showed spleen
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/histoplasmosis/index.html
Note you can get it from bat droppings.
Nowhere near as severe as what you had
Histoplasmosis
Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by a fungus called Histoplasma. The fungus lives in the environment, particularly in soil that contains large amounts of bird or bat droppings. In the United States, Histoplasma mainly lives in the central and eastern states, especially areas around the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. The fungus also lives in parts of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
People can get histoplasmosis after breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air. Although most people who breathe in the spores dont get sick, those who do may have a fever, cough, and fatigue. Many people who get histoplasmosis will get better on their own without medication, but in some people, such as those who have weakened immune systems, the infection can become severe.
The next revelation in my immunology class was the auto-immunity test with latex balls. Everyone else in class rocked their blood and latex balls around for many minutes with no indication. I finally did mine. Rocked the slide 3 times and it locked up into a tight blob. Again, no surprise. I expected rheumatoid arthritis would be part of my future life time. It was showing early signs by age 20 when I started in grad school. C'est la vie!
The annoying nexus between the two is treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is often immuno-suppressive. Not a good idea with Valley Fever lurking in the lungs.