Whales and marine mammals die of deadly fungi that came from humans

In the early 2000s, a strange type of fungus infected hundreds of animals and people in America, but scientists discovered that these fungi reached whales as well.

A new study published in the Journal of Diseases of Aquatic Organisms revealed strange human-caused effects that reached whales.

The study, published some of its results in the journal “scitechdaily”, showed how human-caused changes on land and affected aquatic animals significantly.

According to the study by a team from the University of California, these changes greatly affected the spread of a fungus called (Cryptococcus gattii), a type of filamentous fungi.

Together with a group of scientists from Canada and the Pacific Northwest, the team compiled the history of fungal outbreaks in marine mammals by compiling data documented by veterinarians, marine biologists, and others.

Encapsulated yeasts compatible with Cryptococcus were found in microscopic exams of wet preparations from bronchoalveolar lavage. Cryptococcus gattii was isolated in culture. Serology hiv test was non-reactive.#Cryptococcus pic.twitter.com/sGpyYrmMem

— Unidad Micología (@UMicologia) July 23, 2021

These fungi, called C. gattii, cause serious lung and brain diseases, and live in soil, in and on trees and are acquired by inhaling fungal spores.

In 1999, humans and animals were infected with the fungus for the first time on Vancouver Island and gradually spread to British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California.

Researchers recently found that 42 dolphins and porpoises in the Salish Sea also died from fungal diseases, including harbor porpoises and Pacific white dolphins.

“Sea mammals that died of C. gattii were found near hot spots on Earth, which indicates that the spores settled on the surface of the sea,” said Sarah Teiman, an associate researcher with the SeaDoc Society Medical Program at the Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They were inhaled by porpoises and dolphins when they surfaced to breathe.”