Cavechat.org

Guess this site is just as good as one of the other ones; and, probably more tuned into histoplasmosis, since my question concerns problems gathered from the soil in Texas, but...it's found throughout that area up into Ohio, I believe. This link will share some of what we're concerned with, so...read up on it and let me know if any caver has come upon this problem over the years. http://www.eyecenters.com/eye-condition ... mosis.html A friend of mine lives in Big D and is not a caver, but this coming from the soil, etc. gives me the idea that others could have come across this ugly problem, when digging for a cave...or whatever.

I know at one of the NSS Conventions in South Dakota-- - we picked up keys from the FS/BLM and went into a former commercial cave, which is no longer making buck$ so the cave is run by those in the offices. One of the areas that we came upon, was a huge pile of crap--literally--from pigeons that could sneak in to the cave and did their thing; thus, the sign of histoplasmosis. We pulled out handkerchiefs and covered our faces like we were playing Cowboys and Indians--we were in the right state, right? and proceeded to explore this interesting cave, so...hadn't heard much about Big H until I got this message.

If you have anything to share on this problem of losing your eyesight because of this problem, please write up what you know or send me a PM. Others in caving might be having similar problems and not be aware of what's causing it, until too late.

I asked my doctor about histo because it is supposed to be common here in the Ohio Valley and I have been around piles of bat droppings before. She said most of the time it is not even treated as you get flu like symptoms and may think it is something else. She went on to say if some people in my area had a blood test they may test positive for exposure at one time or another and likely thought it was the flu. You can go blind in extreme cases but the way it was explained to me is most people feel like they have the flu. She suspected if I had the blood test after caving for decades that I would likely have a positive test.

Thanks Jeff for your response.

My mom had eye problems due to histo late in life, but the doc thought she contracted the disease many years prior to that. You can always get tested, and if results show you contracted the disease then you might want to let your docs know so they can watch out for you in your later years.