Posted on 11/25/2004 6:57:53 PM PST by steve86
Death toll from tropical fungus reaches four on Vancouver Island
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VICTORIA, British Columbia -- Four people, dozens of dogs and cats, 11 porpoises and a horse have died from a rare tropical fungus since it was detected on Vancouver Island in 1999, a study has concluded.
The research by an international team that scientists from the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Center for Disease Control also concluded that 101 island residents and visitors have been infected by the rare cryptococcus gattii fungus.
According to their report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the fungus is 37 times more infectious on the Island than in Australia, where it has long been prevalent.
The fungus causes a potentially life-threatening infection of the lungs and central nervous system. Invisible airborne spores from the fungus have been detected over more than 125 miles from Victoria to Courtenay on the east side of the island.
One fungus survivor, Ken James, 53, of Duncan, a former sawmill worker, said Tuesday he knew something was wrong about two years ago when he began experiencing persistent lethargy, sweating and a strange cough.
Only after seeing a television evening news report on the fungus and asking his doctor to check did he learn what was wrong, James said.
"I was 51 at the time and I certainly had a fair amount of energy," he said. "All of a sudden I was very, very tired. I could barely make it through the day without having a midday nap.
"I had night sweats," said James, "sometimes having to change the bedding a couple times a night. I had headaches. I had a funny tickle in my chest-throat area, and it just wasn't normal for me to have that."
Scientists said there was no cause for panic, nor should outdoor activity be restricted.
"It's a rare disease. It's treatable and the majority of the cases are in older people over the age of 65, who have other underlying conditions," said Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia's provincial health officer.
Doctors and veterinarians now more aware of the fungus than in 1999, Kendall added.
"Now people with unexplained fevers or lung lesions for which there's no obvious cause, the physicians are thinking cryptococcus gattii a little bit sooner than they would have otherwise," he said.
Epidemiology Ping.
Four deaths is not really a small number on Vancouver Island.
I was hunting for an old FR thread that talked about the (dis)advantages of living in the Seattle area. My comments then were that fungi endemic to Seattle could cause bronchitis, asthma, and maybe worse lung conditions. (Personal experiences here in spades.) This new fungus, if it takes hold in the damp Northwest, could be a BIG problem.
Seattle, of course, is practically just a pebble-skip across Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria (slight exaggeration but it is a ferry route).
I knew a guy that inhaled some mushroom spores. went to the doc complaining of constant headaches and pressure.
had to peel his face down, cracked his skull and nasal cavity open to scoop all the fungus out.
Life imitating art? Reminds me of a couple of 'X-Files' episodes that I can remember.
Ping!
AARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I'll never walk past the mushrooms in the grocery store again much less eat them.
The clinical diagnosis is a bit unsettling: The distribution of cryptococcosis due to Cryptococcus gattii is geographically restricted, nonimmunocompromised hosts are usually affected, large mass lesions in lung and/or brain (cryptococcomas) are characteristic and morbidity from neurological disease is high.
Maybe now is a prudent time to declare border immigration restrictions on our neighbors to the north....
The Northwest is not tropical, but it's very moist and because of the ocean currents off the coast it rarely goes much below freezing. This is pretty sinister, if you ask me.
Here in SE Texas, we worry about FLESH EATING BACTERIA in the water at the beaches.
:::gulp:::
Bump for later scary read.
EEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!! That's what reminded me of post 14.
We have our own version here in the Central Valley of California:
http://www.valleyfever.com/whatis.htm
Cryptococcus is a VERY nasty infection. Hopefully some of the newer antifungals will prove to be effective. It used to be amphotericin or nothing...And its side effects are horrible.
i am glad that it is treatable and am glad that the general population is not at risk. nonetheless, i am saddened that it is socialized medicine that will be implementing the cures. some have argued that socialized medicine skews its output to those younger workers who are producers and not a drain on society. there have been some studies showing this, albeit in their totality the results are a bit trickier to state unequivicably.
Truly a fungus amongus. (I've waited years to use that phrase!)
Indoor marijuana cultivation is similar to tropical climate I would start from there.
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