Samples of fungus tied to deaths found in larger area of Vancouver Island

Canadian Press

Sunday, September 8, 2002

VANCOUVER (CP) - A rare tropical fungus that has killed two people and made more than 50 others ill has been found across southern Vancouver Island beyond where it was first located, the Vancouver Sun reported Saturday.

Air and tree samples have found the fungus, the gattii variation of cryptococcus neoformans, at "multiple sites along the east coast of Vancouver Island from Victoria to Parksville," said a press statement issued by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Health officials warned the public earlier this summer about the deadly fungus, which was linked to the Douglas fir trees in the popular Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park at Parksville.

But health officials say there is no cause for further alarm among British Columbians living in the region or tourists visiting the island.

"These findings about it being a bit broader are not really surprising," Dr. David Patrick, director of epidemiology at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, told the Sun.

"Our expectation from the get-go was that the organism would be distributed in the environment throughout most of that area," he said.

It is still considered a low-level environmental risk that affects about three people in 100,000 and, if treated with anti-fungal drugs, exposure to the fungus is not deadly.

"The key message to the physicians and the public is that if someone has a long, lingering fever and cough or symptoms that suggest meningitis, like a stiff neck and headaches, this should be considered as one of many possible causes," Patrick said Friday.

The invisible fungus grows in a wide variety of trees in the zone and spreads its spores through the air.

The fungus is normally associated with tropical countries, but Vancouver Island has the largest number of cases of cryptococcal disease in North America.

For most people, the spores have no effect.

But for some, the disease attacks the lungs and gastrointestinal tract and can lead to meningitis.

(Vancouver Sun)