Nocebo Effect? Mysterious illness plagues Grand Canyon rafters

Rafters visiting the Grand Canyon, Arizona, are coming down with a mysterious ailment, reports suggest. One of them described it "like a month-long flu". What's causing it is not known right now, with National Park Service officials saying they were not aware of such reports. An investigation has been initiated. NPS refused to talk about "the extent of the illnesses, potential diagnoses or other details while the investigation is underway." Officials told Paddling Magazine, "We will share additional information with the public as it becomes available."

Several rafters who went to the Grand Canyon in May and June have complained of being sick since then. Many of them have shared their case in the Facebook group Grand Canyon Private Boaters. The magazine spoke to Matt Wappett, who has been sick ever since his trip to the Grand Canyon, who said it started with a severe knee infection three days after he rafted there. He was prescribed antibiotics, which fixed the knee issue, but other symptoms continued to plague him. He complained of fatigue, fever, joint pains, body aches and was also diagnosed with pneumonia.

Rafters speculate what could have happened at Grand Canyon

“It’s just felt like having the flu for the last month," he said, adding that no one knows whether the knee infection was related to the other symptoms. Others complained of similar sickness on the Facebook page after the Grand Canyon trip. Wappett is being tested for valley fever, dengue fever, and hantavirus. Meanwhile, speculations on the page range from tickborne diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, to leptospirosis and Legionnaires' disease, caused by contaminated soil.

People with strange symptoms have been asked to contact the NPS Office of Public Health. Everyone who went rafting to the Grand Canyon is being interviewed to understand what could be going on. However, there is a high probability that the cases are not connected.