Oregon Public Broadcasting

A new scientific study into the recent Northwest appearance of a potentially harmful fungus has gotten the attention of Oregon health officials.

The fungus is Cryptococcus gatti.  It’s believed to have first appeared in the Northwest about ten years ago on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

It sickened a number of people there, and has made a few dozen people seriously ill over the last seven years in the American Northwest.

But Oregon’s interim head epidemiologist, Dr. Katrina Hedberg, is trying to soothe people’s fears.

Katrina Hedberg: “There have actually been cases in northern California, Oregon, and Washington – we’ve seen 50 some cases over the past seven years, so again it’s extremely rare, that’s an average of seven cases a year. But over that time, we’ve seen it primarily in people who’ve had other underlying conditions that would predispose them to this infection and disease.”

Hedberg says it’s important for doctors and health officials to be aware of the fungus, but not overly concerned, since it’s quite rare.

Health officials also stress that the associated infection is treatable.

Cryptococcus Gattii is native to Australia and tropical areas. Hedberg says experts believe it came to the U.S. with imports of some kind, possibly timber.