[Myrddin]

When I started grad school in microbiology at San Diego State University (Fall 1976), the department head had lost a lung to Valley Fever. He insisted that all new student in the department get tested for TB and Valley Fever. I complied. The TB test faded as usual, but the Valley Fever almost wrapped around my arm. Off for a lung X-ray. The amorphous punch-outs from the calcified infection was pretty obvious. As a dirty bike ride in San Diego, it should not have been a big surprise.

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.

[rolling_stone]

interesting..valley fever can go dormant and come back years later i am told - scary

i had tb vaccine as a kid as i went overseas..i later tested positive to skin test. its been many years now so dont know if i would still test positive..