OT/This can be serious!

[Guest guest]

Everyone be sure and stock up on your natural anti fungals! Im not posting this

to put fear here but as a friend!

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...ay/638292.html

THURSDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- A strain of potentially lethal airborne

fungus recently discovered in Oregon may soon spread to California and other

neighboring areas, scientists warn.

Several people in Oregon have died after being infected with the new VGIIc

genotype of Cryptococcus gattii. In the 21 Pacific Northwest cases analyzed by

researchers, the strain has a death rate of about 25 percent.

" This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise

healthy people. Typically, we see this fungal disease associated with transplant

recipients and HIV-infected patients, but that is not what we are seeing, " said

Edmond Byrnes III, a graduate student in the Department of Molecular Genetics

and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, in a news

release.

Because this C. gatti strain is so dangerous, the researchers are calling for

increased awareness and vigilance. Symptoms -- which can appear two to several

months after exposure -- may include a cough that lasts weeks, sharp chest pain,

shortness of breath, meningitis-related headache and weight loss. In animals,

symptoms include a runny nose, breathing problems, nervous system problems and

bumps under the skin.

The infection can be treated but there is no vaccine to prevent it.

The study appears online April 22 in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about cryptococcus.

-- Preidt

SOURCE: Duke University Medical Center, news release, April 22, 2010