Australias Deadly Fungus Spreads to Canada

Australia realy is an interesting place. As far as i can tell it has the worlds most deadlyest Spider, Snake, Jellyfish, Fish, Marsupial, Dog and of course Reptil. Well it appears that even there fungus is pretty dangerous and some unsuspecting tourest (i assume) seems to have brought it to Canada. It used to be that you could walk around the forests of Canada without any fear from local wildlife (like bears are really dangerous). Anyway here is a news report on a friend of mines research.

TROPICAL FUNGUS KILLS 4 ON VANCOUVER ISLAND
National Post
Tue 23 Nov 2004
Page: A11
Byline: Margaret Munro

Tropical fungus Cryptococcus gattii that has taken hold in temperate British
Columbia

The fungus has infected 101 people who live on or have visited eastern
Vancouver Island and killed at least four people, as well as a horse, 11
porpoises that washed ashore and dozens of cats and dogs.

It is 37 times more infectious on the island than it is in Australia, where
it has long been a fixture in the environment, an international research
team reported yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.

"From a scientific point of view it is extraordinary," said Karen Bartlett, a
co-author of the report who studies environment health at UBC.

"It is so rare to be right on top of an emerging infectious disease."

"I don't think it's going to go away any time soon," said Sarah Kidd, lead
author of the PNAS paper who is now at UBC. She has moved from Australia to
B.C. to study the outbreak of the fungus, which is living in the soil and
under tree bark. It can also survive in seawater, which could help explain
the porpoise deaths."