Cave disease common but 'straightforward' to treat: specialist

Cave disease, or histoplasmosis, is ‘straightforward’ to treat, according to an infectious disease specialist who said travellers shouldn’t be concerned despite recent news of Canadians contracting the fungal infection in Cuba. (Peter de Vink/Pexels)

Though a Newfoundland woman who contracted cave disease on a trip to Cuba last month said the illness has altered her life, an infectious disease specialist says the fungal infection is relatively straightforward to treat in most cases.

“It’s not that uncommon, believe it or not,” said UHN researcher Dr. Isaac Bogoch on CTV’s Your Morning. “For the vast majority of people it is totally just fine. And in the rare, rare instances that it’s a more severe case, the medications are usually very effective in clearing it up.”

Most people exposed to the infection have no symptoms at all, he added. In fact, fewer than 5 per cent of people will feel anything unusual, and most of those who do may have mild flu-like symptoms, including a cough, fever and possibly shortness of breath. “That’s why a lot of it goes undiagnosed, because people just don’t know that they have it,” he said.

Cave disease is so named because it is often acquired in caves where bird and bat droppings are found, but can also be found along river valleys and basins. Technically called histoplasmosis, the infection is common around the world, including along the St. Lawrence River in Ontario and Quebec, said Bogoch. It’s not contagious and is only contracted by breathing in the spores of a fungus.

Though the infection took a toll on Newfoundland woman Terri Murphy, there’s not much she could have or should have done to prevent it, said Bogoch.

“We can’t wrap ourselves up in hermetically sealed bags. We have to live our lives. People are going to garden, people are going to go explore caves, people are going to go rafting and hang out on rivers and river basins,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything that we should be concerned about.”