Posted on 04/22/2010 2:42:40 PM PDT by decimon
A deadly, airborne new strain of fungus has emerged in Oregon. It has killed nearly one out of four known affected people so far and might also attack animals ranging from dogs to dolphins. And it is likely to spread, researchers now warn.
The new strain known as VGIIc of the fungus Cryptococcus gattii not only targets humans but has also proven capable of infecting dogs, cats, alpacas, sheep and elk. Other strains have even infected porpoises.
Although it can spread to mammals, it does not jump from animal to animal. Instead, people and other animals get it from inhaling spores released by samples of the fungus that infect trees.
"It's in the environment, and we're exposed to the environment," researcher Edmond Byrnes III of Duke University Medical Center told LiveScience. "And the environmental range of this has been expanding."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Northwest passage ping.
Good! I hope it gets all the tree huggers.
Obama can’t even run the forestries right.
Dangit. We’re all goona die...
You can slip and crack your skull in the bathtub too!
Which is more likely?
It’s just one thing after another.
” “It’s in the environment, and we’re exposed to the environment,” “
Nuke the environment before it nukes us.
So, what are you suggesting? We don’t care to study a new fungus infecting humans?
There’s a new fungus amongus.....
Stay outta da Bushes.
barry’ll get right on it after he’s plugged all the volcanoes.
“”It’s in the environment, and we’re exposed to the environment,” researcher Edmond Byrnes III of Duke University Medical Center told LiveScience. “And the environmental range of this has been expanding.”
There is only one “Sane” thing to do here. We must destroy the “environment” lest we all perish. I’m calling my Congressman now.
Hmmm..., maybe it was good that I moved recently ... :-)
From Wikipedia:
From 1999 through to early 2008, two hundred and sixteen people in British Columbia contracted the disease, and eight died from it.
That’s a far cry from the 1 in 4 deaths claimed in the Yahoo article.
It’s usually a tropical disease so naturally they blamed global warming for it being in B.C. But then I don’t think we have it farther south. Yet.
I’ll betcha’ a good dose of global warming would sniffle this fungus.
No researcher got his funding by understating the possible dangers his topic of research could present.
This almost sounds like a satirical piece.
I guess it’s all our fault again. What else could explain why humanity hasn’t become extinct after so many countless plagues over who knows how many thousands of years? What’s the earth’s population now? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. We’re all gonna die. Better stock up on mint chocolate chip ice cream before I forget.
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