Not sure if this helps, but I had a chest xray about 2 years ago and the doc came back with the films to inform me that I have lungs full of calcified fungus due to something he thinks is histioplasmosis (sp?) Aparantly I had inhaled some spores that began to grow in my lungs. This is actually quite common in the midwest from what I heard. For most people they inhale a small amount of fungus, it grows a little and is then calcified to keep it from growing further The symptoms are very similar to pneumonia from what I was told. In other cases, like mine, you inhale a ton of the spores, you cultivate a nice crop of lovely fungus in your lungs, and then your body creates enough calcium to fill out another set of teeth and you go on. As I recall I was out completely cold and immobile for about a month and a half and lost 25 lbs that I could not afford to lose.
Once your body calcifies the fungus it will stop growing and you will be fine. In my case I have seen specialists and I have regained 100% lung capacity with no adverse long term effects. Once you have this problem once you will never get it again and from what I was told many more people experience this issue than you would think. As climbers it is very likely that you will come across these spores at one point or another depending on your area.
On a side note, my calcium filled lungs gave an xray tech a heart attack when I was in getting my shoulder done. She took one look at the xrays and thought she was seeing SEVERE cancer instead of benign calcium. We both got a laugh over it then, but I can assure you the first xray scared the bejesus out of me.
