Something In The Air

The rest of Canada has West Nile virus but out here on Vancouver Island we've got Cryptococcus, an airborne fungus that can cause illness, even death.

The fungus is common in tropical areas and is found in coastal BC, Washington, even Oregon. It is inhaled where it grows in the lungs and, if left undiagnosed, can lead to pneumonia or even meningitis. First detected (officially) in 2001, we've recorded 165 cases of it, 8-of them have been fatal. Eight deaths in six years, mainly because the infection wasn't diagnosed or treated. Hardly the Black Death but enough for the US Centre for Disease Control's Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases to designate Vancouver Island a potential health risk to travellers.

Gee, how bad is it really? We all heard about it years ago but most locals can't remember its name or, if you told them, wouldn't recall what you were talking about. We go bashing through the very forests where it is supposed to lurk and - well, nothing. Years ago I was talking to somebody who said they knew somebody whose wife came down with it but, until I read the travel warning in today's Globe, I hadn't heard a peep about Cryptococcus for years.

Makes me wonder if the US Centre for Disease Control has issued a travel advisory for Hawaii where the fungus is supposedly much more prevalent than here on temperate Vancouver Island. What do you think?

ADDENDUM

A quick check of medical literature reveals if you're worried enough about Cryptococcus to let it influence your travel plans, don't go to - JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET. In particular, stay away from Europe, North America, Central America, South America, Africa, and anywhere in the Pacific Rim including Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and, of course, Hawaii. Now there's a travel advisory for you.

"Tests showed that 100% of the cultures from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Japan belonged to C. neoformans var. neoformans. More than 85% of the isolates from Argentina, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States (except southern California) were of C. neoformans var. neoformans, the remainder being of C. neoformans var. gattii . There was an unusually high prevalence (35-100%) of C. neoformans var. gattii in Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Hawaii, southern California, Mexico, Paraguay, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, and countries in central Africa. These findings indicated that C. neoformans var. gattii is prevalent only in tropical and subtropical regions. Seventy per cent of the total isolates studied were of serotype A of C. neoformans var. neoformans. Serotype D (9% of the total) was common in Europe, but was found infrequently in other regions. Among the two serotypes of C. neoformans var. gattii , serotype B was 4.5 times more prevalent than serotype C. The majority (88%) of type C isolates in our collection were from southern California."