Fungus was lethal in about 25 percent of those in the U.S. who have developed infections
Symptoms of infection include chest pain, a persistent cough, shortness of breath
Fungus has tended to cause disease in people with weakened immune systems
It's unlikely that it will spread across the continent via plane or other travel
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
Maybe this is why many LLMD's are so adamant about
us taking something to prevent yeast and fungus like Nystatin.
Here are a couple of good articles on fungus. I also like the Melanin protects Madurella mycetomatis against itraconazole and ketoconazole, first-line treatment agents against mycetoma
Wendy W.J van de Sande1, Johan de Kat1, Abdalla O.A. Ahmed2, Henri Verbrugh1 & Alex van Belkum1 1Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Dr. Molewaterplein 40, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands; 2Mycetoma Research Group, Institute of Endemic Diseases and Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
The ability of certain microbes to produce melanin has been linked to virulence and pathogenicity for their respective animal or plant hosts. The aim of this study was to determine the pathway used by M. mycetomatis to form its melanin. Furthermore we wanted to know if melanin protects the fungus against the host immune system or antifungal agents used to treat mycetoma infections. Fungal melanin can be formed via three different pathways, the DHN-, the DOPA-pathway and the Pheo-pathway. By using inhibitors specific for these pathways we could establish that M. mycetomatis uses the DHN- and Pheo-pathways to produce melanin. Melanin has been known to protect fungi like Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus spp. to oxidants and even antifungal agents. http://www.nvmy.nl/11%20april%20abst.htm
They could learn a lot from our LLMD's who have to work around biofilms every day....
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
Symptoms of this fungus are very similar to Lyme & the co-infections -
The symptoms of infection include chest pain, a persistent cough, shortness of breath, fever, and weight loss. The fungus can also cause meningitis, or inflammation of the membranes lining the brain, but can be treated with antifungal drugs. C. gattii is found in soil and trees, but experts haven't yet determined how humans breathe it in.
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Maybe this is another reason why some people aren't getting well with the usual treatments?
I'm going to look into some over the counter & herbal remedies for fungal infections.
I think colloidal silver & tea tree oil are some that come to mind. I was reading that nebulized nano or molecular silver may be helpful for pneumonia or respiratory infections.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- I got a fungal infection (Valley Fever) in 1976, living in the desert area of California.
Every place has fungi. There is no escape. Wish I had learned long ago about olive leaf extract. It has been my very best supplement in it's ability to tame the bad fungi. And medical mushrooms actually are very helpful fungi to me.
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When I acquired Valley Fever, I was just told, everyone who moves here gets it. No treatment, it goes away in a couple weeks. They know now that Valley Fever can be chronic.
Coccidioidomycosis is a disease caused by the spores of the fungus Coccidioides immitis.
Reference from A.D.A.M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coccidiosis; San Joaquin Valley fever; Valley fever -
Posted by LoneDove (Member # 16516) on :
What I'd like to know is how a tropical fungus got a foothold in the Pacific NW??
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- The NW has rain forests, much of the area is dense and wet most of the year - and lots of ships from all over the world year round.
Ships carry everything everywhere, and much besides just their cargo. My guess is they'd find this in many other states, too. They won't even think to look, though. -
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
From the CNN article above -
The fungus hails from the tropics and may have been carried to North America on imported plants or trees, experts say. It first emerged on this continent in 1999, on Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia, where it ultimately infected more than 200 people, killing nearly 9 percent of them.
From there, the fungus is believed to have crossed the border into the U.S. on logging trucks or car tires sometime before 2005, when the first infections were reported in Washington and Oregon. The cases in California "indicate that C. gattii can survive in that habitat," says Yonathan Lewit, a research technician at Duke and a co-author of the new study, which appears in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
The new strain described by Byrnes and his colleagues seems to have mutated relatively recently, and has appeared in humans as well as in cats, dogs, and other animals. (In animals, symptoms include a runny nose and breathing problems, and other strains have been seen in ferrets and llamas too.)
The mutation "is causing major illness in the region, and it's different from what's causing disease on Vancouver Island," says Christina Hull, PhD, an assistant professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, in Madison.