So glad the boys and coach are all out alive and safely! It's been fascinating.
I am curious about possible diseases as well.
Our 21 year old son somehow picked up caver's disease (histoplasmosis) in February. He has not been near a cave (in years) or known bird droppings such as a chicken coop, etc. I think it may have been in the air--lots of construction and tearing down of 150 year old buildings on his college campus and lots of landscaping happening there all the time and I think that stirred something up. His manifested as a sudden mass in his chest and wheezing which sent him to the campus clinic. CT scan showed spleen enlargement and the mass.
From my reading, it says that it takes about 3 to 17 days after exposure to show symptoms of the disease. Many people in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valley, where conditions for the fungus to live are good in the US, have it and don't know it.
The testing DS had that actually diagnosed the disease (Docs initially suspected lymphoma) was a bronchial lavage through a bronchoscopy which tested positive for the disease. As I understand it, blood and other tests take a while to come back positive for the disease.
It's been a very educational, long road to recovery for DS. He will take an expensive antifungal (Sporonax) for at least 6 months, if not longer. But DS seems to be okay now.
I just wonder if DS (and the boys and coach in the cave) will have lingering issues that creep up later.