PORT ANGELES – Can you say “kripto-cokkus GAT-tee-eye”? I knew you could.
Now you’re able to pronounce the name of a deadly fungus that has found a foothold on Vancouver Island, made its way into Washington, and is the hot topic among scientists at Peninsula College, Olympic Medical Center and the Clallam and Jefferson County health departments.
Cryptococcus gattii – which seems to like the rain-shadow climate of the North Olympic Peninsula and southeast Vancouver Island – has killed at least eight people in British Columbia and infected at least three in Washington.
Two people have died from a similar but not identical strain of the fungus in Oregon.
Washington state health officials have left the research role open to the local college, hospital, and health departments.
They’re poised to take up an international study of the mysterious fungus and its spread.
They’d cooperate with counterparts in Canada, where the fungus apparently migrated from tropical Australia.
