Cryptococcus gattii, an airborne fungus primarily found in tropical locales, has turned up in the Pacific Northwest and appears to be making a slow move towards Washington, Oregon and California.
While Cryptococcus gattii is a well-known and well-documented airborne fungus that the Centers for Disease Control and various medical institutions have been watching closely since its appearance in British Columbia in the late 90s, scientists are concerned that as Cryptococcus gattii moves south into warmer climates, the fungus could spread more rapidly.
Five of the 21 people who contracted Cryptococcus gattii in the U.S. have died (about 25%), while 8.7% of the 218 infected people in Canada died of the exposure. The fungus has also infected several species of plants and mammals.
“Overall, I don’t think it is a large threat at this time,” said molecular biologist Edmond J. Byrnes III of Duke University Medical Center, the lead author of the report appearing in the online journal PLoS Pathogens. “But the fact that it is continuing to spread geographically and the number of cases is rising makes it a concern.”
Because Cryptococcus gattii is a fungus, it’s not transmitted from person to person like H1N1 or a cold virus, but through fungi spores which can be blown by wind or transported on items like car tires, shoes and clothing, which makes preventative measures like hand washing ineffective.
“We need physicians to be aware of this and think about it when they see symptoms of infection,” said epidemiologist Julie Harris of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is a serious infection, but so far it’s a rare infection.”
Symptoms of infection can appear two months or more after exposure and include chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, fever and a cough that lasts for weeks.
