By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A weekend of severe monsoon storms across the Valley has left behind more than just rain. Choking walls of dust rolled through the Phoenix metro area overnight, caught on ADOT highway cameras, prompting local health officials to issue warnings about a quiet but dangerous threat lurking in the air: valley fever.
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Doctors remind residents that about two-thirds of all valley fever infections in the United States happen right here in Arizona. The disease, caused by inhaling fungal spores, can go undetected for weeks or months, sometimes resulting in severe, long-term health complications.
A year-long battle
For Arizonan Justin John, what started as standard flu symptoms last February quickly spiraled into a devastating, year-long health crisis.
“I never imagined it would turn into this,” John said.
Despite resting, visiting urgent care, and taking over-the-counter medications, John’s fever and chills refused to break. Eventually, he developed extreme abdominal pain that left him unable to walk. He repeatedly tested negative for multiple standard illnesses, and one hospitalization quickly turned into three.
It took six months before medical professionals finally uncovered the source of his suffering.
“They did a test of me, and they said, ‘Hey, your body is just filled with lesions,’” John recalled. “I was in the hospital for maybe like five days until one day a disease specialist came and told me, ‘Hey, this is a 99% chance this is valley fever. It’s just an extremely, extremely aggressive case of it.’”
The physical toll was immense. “The chills and the high fevers were especially the worst,” John said. “It was really, really difficult to sleep, just constantly groggy all the time.”
As the infection took root, it began to attack his spine, causing excruciating pain. Today, John is recovering but lives with permanent spinal damage. His treatment in the hospital also led to a blood clot in his jugular vein, requiring him to be put on blood thinners.
“I still have the disease in me. It’s still not completely gone,” John said. “And the damage from my spine is, more or less, permanent.”
Monsoon storms fuel the threat
The link between Arizona’s dramatic monsoon season and valley fever is direct. Powerful monsoon winds kick dry, desert soil high into the atmosphere, carrying the coccidioides fungus spores across vast distances.
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Because valley fever symptoms mirror those of common seasonal viruses, it is frequently misdiagnosed or missed entirely. Health experts urge residents to look out for several key symptoms if they have been exposed to dusty conditions:
- Persistent cough
- Chest pain
- Fever and respiratory issues
- Unexplained rashes
- Severe muscle aches and joint pain
- Widespread fatigue that lasts for weeks
“Aches and pains are a common symptom,” Dr. John Galgiani, the head of Banner Health’s Valley Fever Program, told Arizona’s Family.
“And some people just get totally wiped out that they’re very fatigued for weeks… And others get a rash that they can’t explain. If it hangs on more than a few days, certainly more than a week or two, the syndrome is not just a standard cold,” he added.
The importance of testing
Valley medical facilities, including Banner Health, have significantly expanded their valley fever testing in recent years to catch infections earlier. John is currently working with Banner’s valley fever research team, taking experimental medications to help his body rebuild antibodies.
His advice to fellow Arizonans is simple: do not wait to get tested.
“Please get tested when you can,” John urged. “It’s really not that expensive, and it doesn’t take very long either. It can definitely save you some headache in the future.”
While researchers at the University of Arizona’s Valley Fever Center are currently developing a vaccine, it is not yet available to the public. For now, early testing remains the most effective defense for residents, their families, and even their pets, who are also highly susceptible to the disease.
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