Why a potentially deadly fungus from the American southwest is creeping closer to Canada

Last year, Vivek Patel, a 30-year-old metallurgist from Brampton, Ont., went through a months-long ordeal trying to figure out what was causing the crippling headaches and severe weakness he developed after visiting Phoenix, Ariz., for a job interview.

He spent a week in the city, going on day trips with his wife to visit the sweeping red rock formations of Sedona and the iconic Grand Canyon. After he came back home, Patel bounced between doctors in Toronto and faced a battery of tests, from blood work to a CT scan to a spinal tap, but nothing led to an official diagnosis.

It wasn’t until Patel landed the job, and officially moved to Arizona that September, that he finally got an answer. During an eye check-up in Tucson, an ophthalmologist noticed Patel’s optic nerve, which connects the eyes to the brain, was squished into an oval shape because of pressure inside his head. Patel spent one night in an emergency room, and later collapsed at work.

Finally, his Arizona medical team raised the possibility of Valley Fever, which he learned had caused both meningitis, the potentially deadly swelling of the brain and spinal cord’s protective membranes, and hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid in cavities deep within the brain itself.

“It wasn’t until the doctors started showing me the MRIs and CT scans that I realized, this is extremely serious,” Patel said.

He is still taking medication to keep his symptoms at bay, and brain scans taken earlier this year showed both his headaches and general weakness were improving — though not totally gone — thanks to his treatment.

“It’s an anti-fungal,” he said, “but it doesn’t kill the fungus.”