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While scary, is this really newsworthy? We're surrounded by bacteria that can be dangerous, but usually isn't. Five years ago, my dad was admitted to the hosp

While scary, is this really newsworthy? We're surrounded by bacteria that can be dangerous, but usually isn't. Five years ago, my dad was admitted to the hospital because he contracted cryptococcus neoformans[1]. The thing is, that bacteria is everywhere. It's just that most people's bodies are able to easily fight it off. Most of the time, when someone becomes infected it is due to low immunity (HIV/AIDS patients and transplant patients, for example) He is neither of them. It turns out, there is a tiny percentage of the population that becomes infected and nobody knows why. It was scary. Until they finally did a biopsy of his brain they were convinced he had cancer, they just didn't know what form. After the biopsy they were able to easily treat it with a common, over the counter medication they give women for yeast infections. The bacteria had done enough damage that they had to install a permanent ventricular shunt (basically, a subdural tube that goes from his brain to his stomach to act as an overflow for cerebral fluid his body can no longer properly process in the brain) People die from cryptococcal meningitis like he had. My dad's neurosurgeon even told me that my dad was days away from death, had they not figured out what the problem was when they did. Still, no news outlets reported on it. So I can't help but wonder, again, the newsworthiness of this mysterious deadly bacteria other than Ars Technica is joining all other media companies in trying to drum up revenue by needlessly scaring people. 1: https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/cdc-and-fungal/cryptococcal-meningitis.html https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/cdc-and-fungal/cryptococcal-menin...

bsder 5y ago
> While scary, is this really newsworthy? It is because the strains were genetically linked yet cover a vast disconnected geographic area. Something is bringing the bacteria in, and they're trying to find it. In addition, when something like this appears you want medical workers to be thinking about it as an option and adjust their Bayesian probabilities. The standard "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras" is fine unless the circus just came to town. At which point, horses is still more likely, but zebras are no longer out of the question.
pmags 5y ago
I work on the genetics and genomics of Cryptococcus, and actually it can often be quite tricky to treat as common azoles (most likely what your dad was treated with) are often ineffective (they tend to be fungistatic instead of fungicidal). Had the azoles not worked they would likely have moved on to using Amphotericin B which is a pretty nasty drug, though much more effective on Crypto. Systemic fungal infection in general are pretty difficult to deal with because fungal cell biology and physiology is not all that dissimilar to ours (on the grand scale of things).
- Zelphyr 5y ago
  How interesting. Thank you!

bsder 5y ago

> While scary, is this really newsworthy? It is because the strains were genetically linked yet cover a vast disconnected geographic area. Something is bringing the bacteria in, and they're trying to find it. In addition, when something like this appears you want medical workers to be thinking about it as an option and adjust their Bayesian probabilities. The standard "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras" is fine unless the circus just came to town. At which point, horses is still more likely, but zebras are no longer out of the question.

pmags 5y ago

I work on the genetics and genomics of Cryptococcus, and actually it can often be quite tricky to treat as common azoles (most likely what your dad was treated with) are often ineffective (they tend to be fungistatic instead of fungicidal). Had the azoles not worked they would likely have moved on to using Amphotericin B which is a pretty nasty drug, though much more effective on Crypto. Systemic fungal infection in general are pretty difficult to deal with because fungal cell biology and physiology is not all that dissimilar to ours (on the grand scale of things).

Zelphyr 5y ago
How interesting. Thank you!