Strain of deadly fungus spreads (from Vancouver Island) to Oregon

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/strain-of-deadly-fungus-spreads-to-oregon/article1545506/

Strain of deadly fungus spreads to Oregon

Variety of pesky pathogen that has been tracked on Vancouver Island for decades shows up south of the border

Wendy Stueck

Vancouver — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Apr. 23, 2010 11:15PM EDT Last updated on Friday, Apr. 23, 2010 11:21PM EDT

Researchers have discovered a new strain of a potentially deadly fungus in Oregon, marking another step in the steady spread of Cryptococcus gattii from Vancouver Island to the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

“It’s present in Oregon, and we haven’t found it anywhere else yet,” Joseph Heitman of North Carolina’s Duke University Medical Center said yesterday of the new strain.

“That’s not to say it doesn’t exist somewhere in the environment, but we haven’t found it ─ and we’ve looked hard,” said Dr. Heitman, senior author of a paper published online Thursday in Public Library of Science Pathogens.

Duke researchers used DNA sequencing to identify the strain, a new variety of a fungus that has been tracked on Vancouver Island for the past decade.

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http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000850