Potentially deadly fungus spreading in US, Canada

Potentially deadly fungus spreading in US, Canada

www.alertnet.org

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.

The new strain appears to be unusually deadly, with a mortality rate of about 25 percent

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not many cases thus far, but I believe that there are way more fungal diseases in this part of the country that have yet to be identified.

The Pacific Northwest has the highest concentration of MS in the world. It is also a world leader in Aufsburgers and Autism. There have been a ton of studies on the matter, most of which have dealt with man-made factors, but this is a pristine area where there is little or no industry and no heavy dumping.

www.alertnet.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by dolphinfan


hmm it kills people with aids thats like billions of people worldwide,,, must be another scam to kill the dying quicker.....

Originally posted by jumpingbeanz
reply to post by dolphinfan

 

hmm it kills people with aids thats like billions of people worldwide,,, must be another scam to kill the dying quicker.....

Actually, now it seems to be infecting otherwise healthy people, which is extremely worrying considering it's mortality rate...

Cryptococcus gattii, formerly known as Cryptococcus neoformans var gattii, is an encapsulated yeast found primarily in tropical and subtropical climates. Its teleomorph is Filobasidiella bacillispora, a filamentous fungus belonging to the class Tremellomycetes. Cryptococcus gattii causes the human diseases of pulmonary cryptococcosis (lung infection), basal meningitis, and cerebral cryptococcomas. Occasionally, the fungus is associated with skin, soft tissue, lymph node, bone, and joint infections. In recent years, it has appeared in British Columbia, Canada. Some scientists say its appearance so far north is a consequence of global warming.[1] From 1999 through to early 2008, two hundred and sixteen people in British Columbia contracted the disease, and eight died from it.[2] The fungus also infects animals, such as dogs, koalas and dolphins.[3] In 2007, the fungus appeared for the first time in the United States, in Whatcom County, Washington.[4]

The infection is caused by inhaling spores. The fungus is not transmitted from person to person or from animal to person. A person with cryptococcal disease is not contagious. [edit] Symptoms

Treatment Medical treatment consists of prolonged intravenous therapy (for 6–8 weeks or longer) with the anti-fungal drug Amphotericin B, either in its conventional or lipid formulation. The addition of oral or intravenous flucytosine improves response rates. Oral fluconazole is then administered for six months or more. Unfortunately, antifungals alone are often insufficient to cure C. gattii infections, and surgery to resect infected lung (lobectomy) or brain is often required. Ventricular shunts and Ommaya reservoirs are sometimes employed in the treatment of central nervous system infection. [edit]

en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 22-4-2010 by jumpingbeanz]

[edit on 22-4-2010 by jumpingbeanz]

The Pacific Northwest has the highest concentration of MS in the world. It is also a world leader in Aufsburgers and Autism. There have been a ton of studies on the matter, most of which have dealt with man-made factors, but this is a pristine area where there is little or no industry and no heavy dumping.

Autism and Asperger's (spelling) patients generally have high androgen receptor sensitivity. Migraine patients also have higher androgen receptor sensitivity. Valproic acid, which has the side effect of stem cell depletion, is prescribed for some of those groups.

Whoever thought of depleting stem cells in the spine without concomitantly increasing their telomere lengths, doesn't know lick about aging and senescence, or they do and it's on purpose.

I would like to know the valproic acid statistics for those areas. Valproic acid unfurls the DNA core allowing transcription and in some cells, reversion to a stem cell state (de-differentiation), and viral ingress/egress.

Here's a paper referring to Valroic acid as an inducer of latent HIV-1 exression.

The Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor ITF2357 Decreases Surface CXCR4 and CCR5 Expression on CD4+ T-Cells and Monocytes and is Superior to Valproic Acid for Latent HIV-1 Expression in Vitro.

Of course valproic acid when combined with antivirals is highly effective at eliminating latent virus as part of the HAART trials. Alone, it is a recipe for the conversion of HIV to AIDS patients.

See also my posts regarding valproic acid's role in the damage of the world's epigenome.

Mass sterilization campaign Exposed! This Includes You! Epigenotoxins! Legal Loophole!


[edit on 22-4-2010 by elusive1]

Hmmm, Cryptococcus gattii... It's the same fungus I wrote about more three years ago. A Danish tourist got it while visiting Vancouver Island. If you're interested: Exported Deadly Fungus Across The World - Inside His Lungs.

Treatment Medical treatment consists of prolonged intravenous therapy (for 6–8 weeks or longer) with the anti-fungal drug Amphotericin B, either in its conventional or lipid formulation. The addition of oral or intravenous flucytosine improves response rates. Oral fluconazole is then administered for six months or more. Unfortunately, antifungals alone are often insufficient to cure C. gattii infections, and surgery to resect infected lung (lobectomy) or brain is often required. Ventricular shunts and Ommaya reservoirs are sometimes employed in the treatment of central nervous system infection. [edit]

This is obviously the "shareholder invested" "cure" for this, and this is only one more disease to concern with. Whoever predicts this leading-to-surgery conclusion is probably very hung up with their methods. We should look for other solutions!

Makes sense. People were starting to calm down after the whole swine flu hysteria so it's good there's something else out there now to keep people on the edge of their seats and prevent them from concentrating on anything important going on around them.

The mortality rate for recent C. gattii cases in the Pacific Northwest is running at about 25 per cent or six deaths out of 21 known cases analyzed in the United States, compared with a mortality rate of 8.7 per cent or 19 out of 218 known cases in British Columbia, researchers reported in Thursday's issue of the journal PLoS Pathogens.

Read more: www.cbc.ca...

I see this fungus has one critical weakness! Socialized universal healthcare! America is screwed!

I live in BC, but I'm not worried, my Care Card will protect me from any deadly fungus! ... 92% of the time anyway

I am now looking into the possibility of stockpiling the antifungal drugs mentioned in the wikipedia article if this gets any more media attention. If this becomes big news I can pass the bulk discount on to friend, neighbors, and family, and now worry about shortages and scams.


I remember one ATS poster that was a real idiot, but said during one of the first swine flu threads saying, "And so it begins."
I believe this might be the beginning of the next.. ITS GUNN KILL US ALL!!!!! EREBODY BUY DEEZ DRUGS!!!111

Fortunately I am wise enough to say that we will see how this unfolds before we should cast judgment, lest we repeat the stupidity that followed the swine flu scare.

reply to post by dolphinfan


Fungus is one of the diseases I deal with day to day. To put it into perspective it is a nasty disease. But it has been ongoing for decades and is only now becoming slightly more important as a disease in the northwest. It is fungal, affects the lungs, causes a pneumonia set of symptoms and is treatable.

There are other things more important like how Obama is destroying our health care and economy.

Hope this helps!

"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."

I live on Vancouver island, I am in contact as well as know people throughout the entire island (it isn't all that big)...

i've never heard of this.

This is the first time.

Time to get bullet proof, get good old Ormus.

I live in in a boardering county to Whatcom county. I remember the one case mentioned. If my memory serves me, I think it was concluded this person picked up the spores from a tree while out on pennisula or something (rain forrest).

I am sure this fungus has been around a whole lot longer than mankind. I am sure it will be here long after we are gone. The numbers of those 'infected' are so small that I think to cause a panic over it is purely ridiculous. There are thousands of these types of 'killers' lurking out there in nature all around us. Some of us are unfortunate enough to come into contact with them.

As to this area being pristine, well I have to disagree. While we are certainly less polluted than some areas, we have our skeletons in the closet. How about Hanford? You know, that little nasty nuclear plant that is housing one of the largest stock piles of nuclear waste? The same stuff that was supposedly released intentionally onto the public back when it was still open? Then we have some of the industrial plants in the Everett vacinity that has been tied in to many unusuall cancers.

Yes, MS is rampant here. I was recently diagnosed with it. My Vitamin D was also in the toilet, which they are looking at more and more now. Our climate is such that we are prone to low D, which can be attributed for many things.

While I find the article interesting, I just don't think it merits too much attention, and it certainly isn't part of some big scheme by the government.

Boring! Another go nowhere disease... is there nothing that can wipe out this sorry species?

Go humans!

reply to post by dolphinfan

OH...now that's just freakin GREAT! It appears not only do we have to deal with political shenanigans, now a CDC pet project has been LOOSED(its called a joke?) What's next....zombies?!

Whoops, dub post

[edit on 23-4-2010 by ahmonrarh]

reply to post by dolphinfan

OH...now that's just freakin GREAT! It appears not only do we have to deal with political shenanigans, now a CDC pet project has been LOOSED(its called a joke?) What's next....zombies?!

I'm think'n something like the movie "the Happening", without the suicidal tendencies.

I find the term genetically different, used in the article, to be a little disturbing.