I picked this up from another list I am on having nothing to do with
alpacas, but since an alpaca has been found to be infected with this
fungus and since so many here reside in the areas affected I thought I
would pass it along.
Janice
FOX NEWS
Deadly Airborne Fungus Spreading in Northwest
Friday, April 23, 2010
WASHINGTON — A potentially deadly strain of fungus is spreading among
animals and people in the northwestern United States and the Canadian
province of British Columbia, researchers reported on Thursday.
The airborne fungus, called Cryptococcus gattii, usually only infects
transplant and AIDS patients and people with otherwise compromised
immune systems, but the new strain is genetically different, the
researchers said.
"This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to
otherwise healthy people," said Edmond Byrnes of Duke University in
North Carolina, who led the study.
"The findings presented here document that the outbreak of C. gattii in
Western North America is continuing to expand throughout this temperate
region," the researchers said in their report, published in the Public
Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens.
"Our findings suggest further expansion into neighboring regions is
likely to occur and aim to increase disease awareness in the region."
The new strain appears to be unusually deadly, with a mortality rate of
about 25 percent among the 21 U.S. cases analyzed, they said.
"From 1999 through 2003, the cases were largely restricted to Vancouver
Island," the report reads.
"Between 2003 and 2006, the outbreak expanded into neighboring mainland
British Columbia and then into Washington and Oregon from 2005 to 2009.
Based on this historical trajectory of expansion, the outbreak may
continue to expand into the neighboring region of Northern California,
and possibly further."
The spore-forming fungus can cause symptoms in people and animals two
weeks or more after exposure. They include a cough that lasts for weeks,
sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, fever, nighttime sweats
and weight loss.
It has also turned up in cats, dogs, an alpaca and a sheep.
Freezing can kill the fungus and climate change may be helping it
spread, the researchers said.
Deadly airborne fungus reaches Oregon
by Wayne Havrelly
kgw.com
Posted on April 22, 2010 at 10:22 PM
Updated yesterday at 10:39 PM
Health care professionals in Oregon and Washington are being asked to
watch out for a deadly new strain of airborne fungus. This new type of
fungus is infecting otherwise healthy people. Typically, fungal diseases
strike people with weak immune systems, but this strain is different.
Researchers at Duke University are analyzing 21 recent cases of the
disease and they all broke out right here in the Northwest. The fungus
is called Cryptococcus gattii and these recent cases are a new more
deadly strain. Out of the 21 cases, 6 of the patients died. "It can
simulate some other common type of pneumonia's,
" said Providence Portland MD John Heffner. "Instead of anti-biotics you
need to treat this with anti-fungal therapy that we usually never use
for pneumonia."
The fungus can be treated, but not prevented. Right now there is no
vaccine. Symptoms of the fungal disease include a chronic cough, sharp
chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, fever and weight loss.
Scientists say the disease has also struck dozens of dogs and cats in
Oregon and Washington. Cryptococcus gattii has also been spotted in
bottle nose dolphins off the coast of California. "The animals are at
risk for getting it, but it comes somewhere from the environment and we
haven't been able to chase down where it comes from," said Dr. Heffner.
It doesn't appear to be very infectious from animals to humans. Public
health officials are on watch. Researchers say overall it's still a low
threat, however as the number of cases increase, so will the interest.
MSNBC
Deadly airborne fungus in Oregon set to spread
The new, rare strain has killed 1 in 4 infected, researchers say
By Charles Q. Choi
updated 3:12 p.m. PT, Thurs., April 22, 2010
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."
Potential to spread
While scientists aren't sure how the highly infectious or virulent
fungus emerged in Oregon, they caution the new strain now looks set to
expand to California and other neighboring areas.
"This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to
otherwise healthy people," Byrnes said. "Typically, we more often see
this fungal disease associated with transplant recipients and
HIV-infected patients, but that is not what we are seeing yet."
Symptoms can appear two or more months after exposure. Most people never
develop symptoms, but those infected may have a cough lasting weeks,
sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, headache related to meningitis,
fever, nighttime sweats and weight loss. In animals the symptoms are a
runny nose, breathing problems, nervous system problems and raised bumps
under the skin.
Treatment requires months to years of antifungal medications, and even
surgery to remove the large masses of the fungus known as cryptococcomas
that can develop in the body. So far it cannot be prevented, as there is
no vaccine.
Origin unknown
The fungus C. gattii was originally linked with eucalyptus trees in
tropical and subtropical climates. It first caused an outbreak in
temperate climes on Vancouver Island in 1999 that has now spread into
Washington and Oregon, where it infects local trees. This earlier
strain, VGIIa/major, has killed nearly 9 percent of 218 patients.
After comparing the genes of the new VGIIc strain from Oregon with
others, researchers suggest the new strain most likely arose recently,
parallel to the outbreak that began on Vancouver Island. So far it has
killed five out of 21 patients analyzed in the United States, a nearly
25 percent mortality rate. Lab studies with immune cells and with live
mice revealed it is extremely virulent — that is, it can cause severe
disease.
Determining the exact origin of the VGIIc strain has proven difficult.
Investigations so far have failed to find it in Oregon soil, water or
trees. It may have arrived from abroad or originated locally,
researchers said.
Because this fungus had been confined to the tropics until now,
researcher Wenjun Li at Duke University speculated that environmental
changes might be responsible for the evolution and emergence of these
new strains.
"We are trying to put together the evolutionary story of where these
types come from by closely studying the genetics of all samples
possible," explained researcher Yonathan Lewit at Duke University
Medical Center.
It remains uncertain why VGIIc and VGIIa/major are more virulent than
other strains. One possibility, given how this fungus can reproduce
sexually, new hypervirulent combinations of genes emerged due to sex.
The researchers also noted that cell components known as mitochondria in
these strains could adopt a distinctive tube shape. Since mitochondria
help generate energy in cells, it is possible these strains are more
energetic, "but that's just speculation right now," Byrnes said.
When it comes to a public response to outbreaks of these strains,
"public health officials in that area have formed a working group with
state epidemiologists from all those states in the Pacific Northwest,"
Byrnes noted. "It's important that public awareness expand on this."
The scientists detailed their findings online April 22 in the journal
PLoS Pathogens.
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