PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- While doctors believe Ike Davis has contracted valley fever, the New York Mets first baseman says he is not suffering any symptoms of the disease. "I
feel great," Davis said Sunday morning. "And I don't have any symptoms
of it. I'm not coughing. I'm not throwing up blood. I'm not doing
anything. It's not even hard to breathe. The doctor said I could play --
and just don't get really, really fatigued. So that's what we're doing.
And if I get really tired, I kind of just step to the side and take a
break."
Doctors decided to send Davis to New York for additional tests
after reviewing an X-ray of his lungs during a routine camp physical.
However, Davis says that subsequent blood work didn't positively
identify the disease. Doctors told Davis his blood tests did not
positively identify valley fever because he has either unknowingly had
the disease for a while and it mostly has worked itself out of his
system, or because the disease has yet to fully manifest itself.
Asked
how long it may be in his system before running its course, Davis said:
"It's person by person. A year, maybe. But another thing is, if you
look at it, like 40 percent of people that live in Arizona get it in
their life. It doesn't affect a lot of people that get it. So hopefully
I'm one of those guys."
Davis, who spends his offseasons in
Phoenix, suspects he may have contracted the disease while rehabbing a
season-ending left-ankle injury in his native Arizona last summer. Valley fever is a fungal infection found in desert regions of the Southwest. The fungus is released from the soil and inhaled.
"There
were some dust storms during the summer when I was back in Arizona,"
said Davis, whose 2011 season ended with a collision with David Wright at Colorado on May 10. "I guess a lot of people have had complications from that." Former Diamondbacks outfielder Conor Jackson
suffered from a severe case of valley fever in 2009 while with Arizona
and lost nearly a full year to the disease. Jackson described the
symptoms at the time to the Arizona Republic as "mono on steroids."
Davis said he knows but has not spoken with Jackson about his serious bout with valley fever.
"Extreme
cases, I could imagine, it would be tough," Davis said. "But I don't
think I have an extreme case. I feel great now, obviously. If it gets
really bad, you guys will find out, because I won't be playing. But I
feel great now, and I don't see anything in the future. There's nothing
that's come up. Once again, I could have had it for six months and not
even known it. I can't answer a lot of questions of the future. As of
right now, I'll be playing."
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson downplayed the relevance of Jackson's severe case.
"I've
seen one player's case referred to," he said. "These things vary
dramatically. ... (Davis is) not under any real restrictions. This is
something that will resolve itself. ... And what I understand is that
quite often there are no real significant issues with this in many
cases. And when there are, it usually has to do with a compromised
immune system or something else that's going on with the 'patient.'
"From
our standpoint, he's continuing to do all the drills. He does have to
avoid becoming exhausted. But we're going to follow up with it in New
York [in April] when we get back." Davis insisted he largely is unconcerned. "If
I had a cough, if I felt sick, I'd have maybe worries or something like
that," he said. "But I feel great. It's kind of weird."