Fear rescued boys may have cave disease histoplasmosis

The rescued soccer team will be quarantined and tested for the potentially fatal airborne lung infection known as cave disease.

One of the boys is stretchered to a waiting ambulance. Picture: AP.

Members of the soccer team trapped inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks, will be quarantined and tested for a potentially fatal airborne lung disease once evacuated.

Eight members of the Wild Boars soccer team have already emerged from the Tham Luang cave complex but weren’t allowed to see their parents before paramedics took them to the Chiang Rai Hospital, 70km south of the cave site, for quarantining on a separate floor from other patients.

Even if Thai authorities allow the parents to visit their sons, they will be banned from hugging or touching the children, and will be forced to remain behind glass.

The Australian understands the first boys rescued from the cave was Mongkol “Mark” Boonpiam, 13, and Prachak “Note’ Sutham, 14.

Medical experts have serious concerns that the team is at risk of contracting an infection known as histoplasmosis, or ‘cave disease’, which can be fatal if left untreated.

Caused by a fungus found in bird or bat droppings, the infection can spread in wet, humid areas when microscopic spores are inhaled into the lungs.

Symptoms, which are similar to pneumonia, can develop anywhere from three to 17 days after exposure to the fungus.

Rescue crews have told local media that the team had been able to survive for nine days after they were trapped in the cave by a flash flood, by drinking water that had dripped off stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling.

The Chiang Rai Hospital has reportedly cleared the entire eighth floor for the 12 players and their coach, so doctors can test for the presence of cave disease as well as other conditions such as hypothermia.

People diagnosed with cave disease can experience fevers, chills, chest pains and a dry cough.

However if left untreated, the disease can spread to other parts of the body, causing vision loss, weight loss, shortness of breath, and in some cases lesions on the body.

Eight of the boys have been quarantined so far at the hospital, where doctors will take urine, blood and possibly tissue samples to test for the presence of histoplasmosis.

Chest X-rays will also assist doctors to determine whether the players have contracted the illness.

If the disease is detected, the affected players will require immediate treatment with a series of antifungal medication and close observation over several months.

Meanwhile, the team of specialist cave divers who have spent days guiding the players safely through the intricate cave network, have been given a 20-hour break to rest before rescue efforts resume.

Divers are required to ferry the children and their air tanks through the flooded, dark passageways which, in some areas, only measure 60cm wide.

The rescue mission is expected to resume at 6pm today.