An Incurable Fungal Disease That Eats Your Brain! Yet Another Reason Not to Live in the Southwest.

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Maybe that explains Jan Brewer.

Catalina Vel-DuRay on July 5, 2013 at 8:57 AM

Any worse than the memetic plague that's been affecting Washington State for so many years?

Supreme Ruler Of The Universe on July 5, 2013 at 9:06 AM

At our age, just keeping sphincters closed is a chore.

Pope Peabrain on July 5, 2013 at 9:10 AM

The Valley Fever, (ie San Joaquin Valley) has been known for some time.

ferret on July 5, 2013 at 9:16 AM

@4 No shit. I have a couple of friends from Bakersfield, and they told me about it when I first visited there 20 years ago. They'd grown up with this crap, as far as I could tell.

Not exactly news. More cases because more sprawl? Suck on that, Bailo.

ScrawnyKayaker on July 5, 2013 at 9:34 AM

@1 Jan Brewer suffers from past alcoholism and too much hair bleach, coupled with the sun blinding her to any factual truth. She probably wishes she could blame her idiocy on Valley Fever.

Growing up in AZ, we always had the PSAs about Valley Fever (and Hepatitis - an annoying song that I can sing verbatim still), but as @5 says, it became more of an issue when they started the rampant building of cookie cutter housing developments, destroying the crust over the desert soil and the plant life that kept the soil more contained.

StuckInUtah on July 5, 2013 at 9:48 AM

After playing Last of Us, I so didn't need to read that.

darthvegan on July 5, 2013 at 10:03 AM

@6, @1 -- my favorite Jan Brewer scene was a few years back when she was asked some question she hadn't been scripted for, you know, something about policy or government or something trivial like that, and she just stared motionless and silent at the TV camera for more than a minute. Just a total shutdown of brain function. She's the Terri Schiavo of governors.

Fnarf on July 5, 2013 at 10:22 AM

Or, the disease that everyone who picks up a cold at Coachella hypochondriacs themselves into believing they brought home.

josh on July 5, 2013 at 10:53 AM

Jesus, 20,000 reported cases? Now I'm getting visions of the moths and ants infected by fungus in the jungle episode of Planet Earth.

@8 Excellent!

sahara29 on July 5, 2013 at 10:54 AM

@4 & Goldy...

Here is something to keep you awake at night, when you jumped into Lake Washington... (Actually, it is probably too cold for this amoeba) but it does like Lake Havasu..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_f…

ferret on July 5, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Just FYI - Cocci is present in pretty much every square inch of soil in this country. It may be more prevalent in the southwest for whatever reason but it's certainly present here. That is why those of us who keep chickens feed our baby chicks medicated feed and/or keep them housed indoors and off of the soil for the first weeks of their life. Chickens are especially susceptible, particularly when they are young. So think about that one every time you're digging in the garden!

Queen of Sleaze on July 5, 2013 at 11:13 AM

@3
You eventually have written something that strikes my gland medial to the "humerus."

dnt trust me on July 5, 2013 at 11:18 AM

@6 Wash you hands after going to the bathroom!

Thanks for reminding me of that damn jingle that I had mostly forgotten...

very bad homo on July 5, 2013 at 11:46 AM

Wash your hands after changing baby too!
Sorry @14. It's a horrible ear worm.
But whoever came up with that ad should be a millionaire, since I can't seem to forget it - even after 20 or so years.

StuckInUtah on July 5, 2013 at 12:21 PM

In related news, there's a vidya game out recently called "The Last of Us", a zombie survival game in which the civilized world is torn asunder by formerly human THINGS corrupted by a mutant relative of the cordyceps fungus. Of course, cordyceps et alia spores are wind-dispersed, but the zombie fungus in that still spreads from infected bites only.

venomlash on July 5, 2013 at 12:50 PM

@4 and @5: The concern is not the disease itself, but that it is increasingly common and very difficult to treat effectively.
For perspective, imagine if 20,000 bears came down from the mountains and started eating people. Would you say "pshhhh, we've known about bears forever," or would you say "holy shit, we need to do something about this man-eating bear outbreak"?

stirwise on July 5, 2013 at 12:51 PM

@17, hell, that's just Pride Week, isn't it?

Fnarf on July 5, 2013 at 12:53 PM

Also, coccidioidomycosis is totally curable. There's a couple different antifungals that are used in severe cases.

venomlash on July 5, 2013 at 12:56 PM

@19: Not totally curable (or, RTFA). In severe, complicated infections, such as when it spreads to bone or spinal tissue, it's very difficult to treat and frequently fatal. Those cases used to be very rare, but are becoming increasingly common.

stirwise on July 5, 2013 at 1:06 PM

@8 - you mean this moment?
http://youtu.be/egx9PkSoBEA

StuckInUtah on July 5, 2013 at 1:17 PM

Yikes, @11. I can't count the number of times I've jumped into Havasu during spring break in the 90s. Perhaps my tequila consumption at that time protected me from the brain-sucking ameoebas....

StuckInUtah on July 5, 2013 at 1:23 PM

@13 It must pain you to be so kind.

Pope Peabrain on July 5, 2013 at 1:41 PM

Watch out for the Clickers.

sirkowski on July 5, 2013 at 2:39 PM

@11 Naegleria fowleri really like very warm water like 85/30 degrees water to breed. The most dangerous time at a place like Lake Havasu or Lake Mead is around August, and in really warm spots. A simple technique to suck up the amoeba via the nose, is a noseclip. Swallowing it via the stomach isn't lethal. The amoeba has to get to the brain via the sinuses.

Anyway, it is great creature to make a horror film about..

ferret on July 5, 2013 at 6:21 PM

Star Trek, Wrath of Khan gave me nightmares for years with the ear creature, and it wasn't even a horror movie...

StuckInUtah on July 5, 2013 at 8:00 PM

It is so nice.Sheepbuy is the best answer to How to Sell Items

SheepBuyStore on July 7, 2013 at 2:23 AM

An Incurable Fungal Disease That Eats Your Brain! Yet Another Reason Not to Live in the Southwest.

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