New studies of the Cryptococcus Gattii fungus are leading to increased awareness of the disease, which can be dangerous to anyone but it is largely only a life-or-death concern for those with weak immune systems.
Some media outlets around America are naming the Cryptococcus Gattii fungus as “deadly” and “killer” but how severe, in fact, is this disease? Time magazine has posted headlines describing the fungus as a “killer” while ABC News, conversely, is stating the media attention Cryptococcus getting is “overblown.”
The fungus is indeed spreading in the United States and Canada, originally being restricted to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, until 2003.
“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,” wrote a Duke University Medical College team in a recent paper in the journal “Plos Pathogens”.
What’s generating all of the hype is the recent increase in lethality of the fungus. A recently derived strain of the virus spreading through Oregon has a lethality rate of about 25 percent, according to the lead author of the above study Edmond Byrnes III. An older outbreak in British Columbia saw 9% of those infected succumb to the disease.
Normally patients whose lives would be threatened by the fungus would be those with HIV or Cancer who have low-functioning immune systems. The fungus is apparently not contagious, and it is transmitted in the air, but it is unclear exactly how victims breathe it in. Chest pain, shortness of breath, persistent cough, fever, and weight loss are common symptoms.
“There are no real precautions you can take, because it’s hard to tell which areas would be more infected or where levels of C. gattii could be higher,” Byrnes told Health.com, when asked about what precautions could be taken to prevent infection.
The Cryptococcus Gattii fungus is a worthy adversary for doctors who are looking to identify symptoms. The reported incubation time for the fungus is around six months, so it is not easy to know how patients contracted the spores, and how to avoid those areas.
But in a national or continental context, the fungus has only just spread into Northern California, making it not a threat to the vast majority of North Americans.
