Killer Airborne Fungus Alert

Public Safety, Science / By Ryan Burns / May 28, 2010, 4:13 p.m.

Cryptococcus gattii

A “hypervirulent” new strain of fungus has been discovered in Oregon. It is unpreventable. It is airborne. It’s killing people and animals. And it’s headed here.

As much as this sounds like a setup to a cornball late-night sci-fi movie, this thing is (gulp) sci-fact. It’s pants-wettingly real, folks. And according to a National Geographic story from earlier this month, this sucker is sticking around.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified 50 cases so far — in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, according to the Earthfiles story linked above. Of those, 10 have proved fatal for a 20 percent mortality rate.

Before you get too freaked out, be sure to read the quote from Dr. Joseph Heitman wherein he assesses the danger as “uncommon or rare.” On the other hand, he also says this fungal assassin can travel great distances on car tires. That’s some Cape Fear shit.

THREE Comments

Comment / By Kaitlin SB / May 28, 2010, 4:41 p.m.

I was travelling a week or so ago — in DC — and someone asked me about this. They had heard about the OR deaths. I was like, huh? But it is real!? Crap.

Comment / By Nan Abrams / May 28, 2010, 7:54 p.m.

Cripes!

Comment / By How helpful / June 1, 2010, 11:54 a.m.

What a useful article. 1) This thing will kill you 2)you can’t do anything to prevent it 3)It’s scary

What about 1)how rare is it? Really….. 2)what are symptoms 3)what treatments have been used 4)who is most likely to be sick and die from this. 5) where are the outbreaks and where are they likely to be 6) any other useful info…….

And stop using language better suited to a bunch of junior high students snickering about things they don’t understand.