Deadly New Fungus Emerging in Oregon-Expected to Spread

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.

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.

Source: news.yahoo.com...

Hmmm. Another crazy health issue coming our way. Frankly, I am more worried about something like this than I am/was about the Pig Virus. Any ATS scientis/doctors care to elaborate?

I would not be surprised one bit if it came out these things were engineered in labs by the terroist.

[edit on 4/23/2010 by anon72]

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by anon72
I would not be surprised one bit if it came out these things were engineered in labs by the terroist.

If, by "the terroist," you mean the government, you may be right.

I guess you know that the US government sponsored a team in 1997 which carefully dug up frozen 1918 pandemic flu virus from Alaskan permafrost, and carefully reconstructed it into a virus surprisingly like the swine flu we recently experienced?

And then they experimented with combining it with other viruses to find which parts of it made it so lethal and so contagious.
(All documented in medical or scientific journals.)

We were just lucky that modern living conditions are so different to those back then the virus, once released, inevitably mutated to a less deadly form and did little harm.