In 2003, our second daughter Stacy was still a few weeks away from Taisley’s March delivery date when in late January she developed what her obstetrician diagnosed as pneumonia. Her doctor hesitated to start treatment because of his concern for the potential of hurting her unborn child with serious antibiotics, but, the 35-year-old mother continued to get worse and worse until he had no choice. After two weeks on a powerful drug, chest x-rays showed no sign of improvement and her symptoms - trouble breathing, a persistent fever, night sweats, joint pain and extreme fatigue – continued to sap her strength.
Soon after, she was checked into the local hospital then life-flighted to Salt Lake City where she delivered a healthy baby girl on March 12, 2002, the same day lab results confirmed a diagnosis of Valley Fever (aka coccidioidomycosis, San Juan Valley fever, desert fever or desert rheumatism). Her family watched the helicopter fly away, while being told by local doctors they had done everything they knew how to do, but felt they were losing her.
Taisley was born in Salt Lake and the following day Stacy and her newborn returned to St. George where every one of her 5 doctors (1 in Tucson, 2 in Salt Lake and 2 in St. George) were convinced – while they were certain she was dying when they put her on the plane – she had now turned a corner and her immune system would kick into high gear for a full recovery.
The next day, she began having terrible cramps – to the point she was sweating and crying in agony. I took the baby and her dad took her to the hospital where - only about 20 minutes after they checked her in - she coded in the emergency room. Her body had shed all of her potassium and her heart stopped. Luckily, she was in the well-trained hands of exceptional doctors who were able to start her heart again, but her immune system did not do the same. From there she spent 2 weeks in ICU being treated with ampitericin followed by another 4 weeks in the hospital. She lost most of her hair and lots of weight, but was finally able to come home to her family. Statistically, she is one of 5-10% of Valley Fever patients who will always need to be medicated to keep this life-threatening fungus under control.
Scroll forward several years. I had inhaled a grain of rice and had developed a spasmodic cough. It wasn’t serious … just irritating, so I made an appointment to see Dr. Hoffman, a respiratory therapist at (then) Dixie Regional Medical Center. She assured me my body would absorb the rice and the cough would go away on its own but, made a follow-up appointment for me for a couple of weeks later. Still coughing – and because I have a history of tuberculosis contracted as a child from my Uncle Millard and my little cousin Dudley who both died from TB - she decided I needed a lung biopsy (which hurt a whole lot, by the way).
A week later, I returned for the results. Almost apologetically, she told me she had made a diagnosis, but I probably wouldn’t know what it was. “You have scaring on your lungs from Valley Fever.” I started to laugh. She wanted me to know Valley Fever can be life-threatening and was certainly not funny. When I gained my composure, I asked … “do you know who I am?” She looked at my chart and responded, “well, yes … you’re Linda Sappington.”
“Yes, but I’m also Stacy Foote’s mother,” I told her.
I think I know when I had Valley Fever. I went to work as usual at the Volunteer Center of Washington County, but before noon I was too sick to stay at the office. I missed almost a week of work, unable to get out of bed, then awoke one day, once again feeling fine. Apparently, Stacy’s mom is among the 90-95% who get VF and get over it without longterm effects.
According to the Valley Fever Center for Excellence in Tucson, AZ, about 100,000 new patients are diagnosed every year in the United States, most often in the desert region of the United States, from the west coast of California to the eastern border of Texas (those who live outside of these desert areas can usually trace their diagnosis back to a desert vacation). The fungus coccidioides immitis, grows in the soil, primarily in areas of low rainfall, high summer temperatures and moderate winter temperatures. It can be found in the hot, desert regions of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, parts of Texas and in our own southern Utah, where St. George is the nation’s most northern community for the fungus. These fungal spores become airborne when the desert soil is disturbed by winds, construction, farming – even high energy outdoor recreational activities. In susceptible people – including women in their third trimester of pregnancy – as well as in animals, infection occurs when a spore in inhaled. Once in the lung, the spore changes into a larger, multicellular structure called a spherule. The spherule grows and bursts, releasing endospores which develop into more spherules (think “dandelions”).
The most common symptoms of Valley Fever are fatigue, cough, chest pain, fever, rash, headache and joint aches, in any combination, and which generally begin to develop within three weeks of exposure. Valley Fever is not contagious, and, in most cases, can be successfully treated. Many who get it don’t even know it … or need no treatment; but, approximately 5-10% of patients have serious side effects – and for a very small number of patients, it is fatal. Risk factors which could make a patient susceptible to serious complications include a compromised immune system, diabetes mellitus, pregnancy, age, ethnicity and occupation, such as farmers, construction workers, and archeologists in the 25-55 age group.
Those who work or play outside in our hot summer months should be aware of the symptoms of Valley Fever – including those who vacation in our area, then return home and find themselves feeling poorly. According to the Southwest Utah Public Health Department, the organization responsible for tracking diseases in the five-county area, Valley Fever is the diagnosis for about 50 residents in the five county area every year.
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