The problem also is that you have people who are constantly getting exposed to anti-fungal medications without their knowledge. E.g. almost all supermarket lemons/limes/oranges are coated in anti-fungal cream before being coated with another thin layer of wax, so when you make zest from them (or order a drink with zest at a bar) then you are probably reducing your body's ability to fight off things like this. So much…
Do you have any more information about that? I zest the peels often and enjoy a gin and tonic with lime, would buying organic or from a specific producer help avoid it? The cost should be minimal for these items.
A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
31–40 of 62 posts
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#32The problem also is that you have people who are constantly getting exposed to anti-fungal medications without their knowledge. E.g. almost all supermarket lemons/limes/oranges are coated in anti-fungal cream before being coated with another thin layer of wax, so when you make zest from them (or order a drink with zest at a bar) then you are probably reducing your body's ability to fight off things like this. So much…
There is utterly no epidemiological evidence that eating zest has anything to do with any kind of fungal infection.
"There is utterly no epidemiological evidence that eating zest has anything to do with any kind of fungal infection."
No, but there is plenty of evidence that fungi develop resistance to anti-fungal drugs. If I really liked zest I might keep eating it, but since I actually don't like it in the first place I don't find that I lose anything by leaving it out of recipes and cocktails.
I certainly wouldn't say that it's definitely harmful, but when you're eating all these fungicides that have never been tested for longterm safety on humans then that's a risk one should be at least cognizant of.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#33The problem also is that you have people who are constantly getting exposed to anti-fungal medications without their knowledge. E.g. almost all supermarket lemons/limes/oranges are coated in anti-fungal cream before being coated with another thin layer of wax, so when you make zest from them (or order a drink with zest at a bar) then you are probably reducing your body's ability to fight off things like this. So much…
Almost all fungal (few exceptions) infections are 100 % curable and treatable in most healthy individuals !! Lethal fungal infections (such as Aspergillous and Mucormycosis - flesh eating fungus) are common in immune-comprimised individuals (Diabetics, HIV+ , Organ Transplant Recipients, etc) and very un-common in healthy individuals.
"Almost all fungal (few exceptions) infections are 100 % curable and treatable in most healthy individuals !!"
I mean some of them are curable, but anti-fungals are extremely toxic since human cells and fungi cells are very similar. And unlike with bacteria you can't just use antibiotics, since antibiotics mostly come from fungi to begin with. Also, you're not going to be young and healthy forever. At some point you are going to reach an age where you are highly vulnerable to fungal infections, unless you've already died from something else.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#34As an Arizona native, both my best friend and one of my college professors acquired the disease and became seriously ill. My professor had to miss most of the year of the class I signed up for, and my best friend was down for an entire year with weakened lung capacity, as well as not being able to drink an ounce of any sort of liquor while taking the medication she needed to fight it. These are probably 5s on a scale of 1-10 with how bad this disease is.
It's horrible, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'd say be careful when you visit AZ or CA, but there's not really anything you can do except avoid the dusty areas entirely.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#35The problem also is that you have people who are constantly getting exposed to anti-fungal medications without their knowledge. E.g. almost all supermarket lemons/limes/oranges are coated in anti-fungal cream before being coated with another thin layer of wax, so when you make zest from them (or order a drink with zest at a bar) then you are probably reducing your body's ability to fight off things like this. So much…
Any authoritative reference on the type of antifungals that are used? Do they inhibit fungi specific to citrus fruits or also fungi that infect humans?
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#36The article is actually a little sensationalist. Because Coccidioidomycosis is actually ENDEMIC to the western region of USA and Mexico. The rates do usually go up after earthquakes and storms that can lift up large amounts of dust up in the air. In most people the infection resolves itself (much like TB in healthy people). Some people might get pneumonia and rarely do healthy people get meningitis. The disease is se…
You're correct that it's endemic, and it is usually associated with the fungus getting kicked into the air, but being rid of it is hardly a walk in the park. It usually downs its victims with the effectiveness of polio, there's no vaccine, and no real "cure". Fungal infections don't work like that. It takes a long, sustained treatment to be rid of it, and the meek/unhealthy individuals you refer to usually die from the disease. Generally healthy people merely suffer for a year or so.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost all fungal (few exceptions) infections are 100 % curable and treatable in most healthy individuals !! Lethal fungal infections (such as Aspergillous and Mucormycosis - flesh eating fungus) are common in immune-comprimised individuals (Diabetics, HIV+ , Organ Transplant Recipients, etc) and very un-common in healthy individuals.
"Almost all fungal (few exceptions) infections are 100 % curable and treatable in most healthy individuals !!" I mean some of them are curable, but anti-fungals are extremely toxic since human cells and fungi cells are very similar. And unlike with bacteria you can't just use antibiotics, since antibiotics mostly come from fungi to begin with. Also, you're not going to be young and healthy forever. At some point you…
Well Fungal cells walls have ergosterol which we humans don't and that is a particular target site for many anti-fungals.
In some cases the fungal treatment is longer than usual eg: Nail infection, because it takes very long for the drug to reach the site. The treatment is around 3 months +
In most common opportunist fungal infections a few doses of anti-fungal does cure and treat the infection.
Also most Healthy individuals don't get infected with Fungus in the First Place even if they eat what ever crap with Anti-fungal substances (in your case lemon with pesticides)
Because our body defense is usually good enough to ward off fungal infections in the first place. Actually a very handful of fungal species are able to infect Healthy people.
And the article is a little Sensationalist as the disease is endemic and common to SW USA.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#38Swell. I write this from the Sacramento area (yeah, "the other valley" - Central, not Silicon) as somebody who was born by Bakersfield. OTOH - doesn't every place have its own local diseases and parasites???
Where I grew up (Darwin, Australia), gardening can kill you with a flesh-eating bacteria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melioidosis Luckily, it's treatable with very high doses of antibiotics. It mostly kills the already infirm or elderly.
A similar virus killed Steve Frasier, founder of Internet Mortgage Exchange (IMX), who also contracted it gardening at his home in Walnut Creek.
He had a fever and complained of pain in his arms for a week before going to see a doctor, but by then there was little they code do as the bacteria had spread to his heart.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#39Looks like a hoax for me. Fungal infections are medically treated, even if your lungs are affected with, say, Candida after sharing some shisha in a dirty moroccan place.
Re: A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Almost all fungal (few exceptions) infections are 100 % curable and treatable in most healthy individuals !!" I mean some of them are curable, but anti-fungals are extremely toxic since human cells and fungi cells are very similar. And unlike with bacteria you can't just use antibiotics, since antibiotics mostly come from fungi to begin with. Also, you're not going to be young and healthy forever. At some point you…
Well Fungal cells walls have ergosterol which we humans don't and that is a particular target site for many anti-fungals. In some cases the fungal treatment is longer than usual eg: Nail infection, because it takes very long for the drug to reach the site. The treatment is around 3 months + In most common opportunist fungal infections a few doses of anti-fungal does cure and treat the infection. Also most Healthy ind…
> In some cases the fungal treatment is longer than usual eg: Nail infection, ...
I believe I got that and roughly beat it! It only took a few years!
Doing some rough carpentry, I dropped a 2 x 4 on my left big toe. No big pain. But later it appeared that I had cracked the nail. Later the nail began to crumble -- likely a fungus among us!
Eventually the nail crumbled its way nearly all the way back to the white part.
I got some anti-fungus cream, generic, big tubes, from Wal-Mart. So, I'd put a tablespoon of this cream on the nail, wrap up the toe with a piece of paper towel, secure it with whatever tape was handy, and f'get about it until after a shower, etc. and then repeat the procedure.
More than once the nail grew out again but was infected with the fungus. We're talking years here!
Finally I got lucky and the nail grew out apparently healthy.
Then there was another problem: The inside edge of the nail was a long way from growing out so grew against flesh giving me an ingrown toenail. Okay, been there; done that! So, slathered on some Wal-Mart generic triple anti-biotic cream, wrapped it up, and waited months until the end of the nail grew out past the flesh. Yes, the end of the nail was ugly with blood and dead flesh! Ah, soap and water! But there was no bacterial infection from the ingrown nail, and no fungus infection.
Now the nail is nicely grown out with little or no evidence of crumbling from a fungus infection.
So, I killed the fungus with just topical medicine and not some internal medicine that might damage my liver.
But, given the slow rate of nail growth, a case can take years!
The anti-biotic cream seems to be strong stuff: Once got some on my socks, washed my socks, and too soon saw sewage bubbling up in my backyard. Yup, the anti-biotic cream had sterilized my septic tank! So, flush a box of Rid-X or whatever, and the septic tank has been healthy ever since.