GeoHealth
Morgan Gorris
NBC News
Devin Buckley
? The show where fungus evolved because of rising temperatures and later infected the entire planet in less than a weekend with a rabid zombie-like infection??? That one??????
97 per cent of cases have been found in the southwest in Arizona and California thanks to their warm, dry environments. But it has steadily begun to spread to other parts of the US, with experts fearing that it could be endemic in 17 states by 2100.
A study published by estimates that Valley Fever could reach the Canadian border as a result of world’s changing climate. And like, great. Excellent. Fantastic news.
, who penned the study, issued a warning on about the threat or coccidioides fungi. “As the temperatures warm up, and the western half of the US stays quite dry, our desert-like soils will kind of expand and these drier conditions could allow coccidioides to live in new places”.
Valley Fever is caused by breathing in spores from the fungus coccidioides. These spores usually sit undisturbed in the ground, but can be uprooted by construction, heavy wind, or even walking, which lifts them into the air.
The scary thing is that many people with Valley Fever might not even know they have it. Symptoms often look quite similar to your standard respiratory virus infection, with cough, fatigue, fever, and shortness of breath as some of the telltale signs.
TBH, it’s not very fun-guy of them.
was diagnosed with the disease after he started to feel ill in February 2018 and told NBC that he was surprised something so serious wasn’t better known.
Whilst many infections are mild, clean up on their own, and can’t be passed between people, we’re still sufficiently freaked the fuck out.
And while may have Ellie as a potential saviour and cure for humanity, scientists haven’t been quite as lucky (yet).
A vaccine for Valley Fever has been in the works since the 60s, with no word on how potential vaccines will help us humans. One trial from the University of Arizona College of Medicine is currently being tested on dogs, who also happen to be susceptible to Valley Fever.
And honestly, the fungus can infect us humans all you like. But leave the damn dogs out of it.
If a human trial is approved, , director of the Valley Fever Center For Excellence, believes that a human vaccine could be available in eight years — and that’s an optimistic estimation.
, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, spoke to NBC with a warning.
Amazing! So in 2023, we’ve got a fantastic end-of-the-world tickbox going on. We’re the that we’ve ever been, and we have a killer fungal infection that’s running rampant in America.
The only slight silver lining of this apocalypse thing is that maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to roam the fall of civilisation with my hot daddy Pedro Pascal to protect me. A girl can dream.
“When I first got diagnosed, the word cancer was going around with some of the doctors — like they were screening me for that,” he said.
“So it just goes to show you how serious of a disease it is if doctors seeing it think the first thing I have is cancer.”
The Last of Us Dr. John Galgiani Dr. George Thompson“I think fungi are really the coming superbugs. I think they’re really the ones that are going to be problematic over the next decade. And Valley Fever is going to be a key part of that,” he said.
“They are really here to stay. This battle is sort of just beginning.”
closest to the world ending The Last of Us-inspiredThe post A Deadly Fungal Infection Is Spreading Across The US & When Will Pedro Pascal Come And Save Me? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
