Fungus that it would be Bad News to breathe in for a healthy person

[tamtrible]

time: now-ish

Comments

[lyonesse]

Lycoperdon? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoperdonosis

spores aren't usually toxin-laden.

[tamtrible]

Wasn't thinking the spores themselves were particularly toxic, was thinking more along the lines of "you will soon have fungus growing in your lungs".

Looks like lycoperdonosis is more a "inhale lots of spores and have a reaction if you're sensitive" thing.

[lyonesse]

the human lung basically isn't a niche that's been exploited my fungi. oh well.

lycoperdonosis is not just the sensitivity; the spores have little hooks on them, and they're no good for alveoli.

[tamtrible]

well, I also can't think why a CDC mycologist would be working with that particular fungus. Though hooked spores don't sound fun.

[vyperdd]

This article might help.

Zombie ant fungus

It mentions 2 different very nasty fungi:
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis which turns ants into 'zombies'

&

In parts of the US, the fungal disease coccidiodomycosis - or Valley Fever - kills hundreds of people a year after it is contracted from spores swept into the air from soil.

[tamtrible]

I should have thought of Valley Fever. I live in one of the places where it's pretty common.

[cryptaknight]

Seconding ophiocordyceps. It's what Mike Carey uses to explain the zombies in The Girl With All The Gifts and it is sufficiently terrifying.

[tamtrible]

I'll have to poke around to figure out what fungus I want the zombie fungus to be (distantly) descended from. I want something with swimming spores, because I'm trying to make it hard for the zombies, as... well, I'm working on 2 different stories with this particular setting, and in one of them, the zombies are pretty much the protagonist.

But the zombie ant thing is part of what gave me the initial idea.

[anonymous]

Most fungi are not threatening to healthy people, except for a few. The CDC has a list. Valley Fever is one, as mentioned.

http://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/index.html

Source: EMT in training

[tamtrible]

My fungal zombies are entirely unrelated to whatever Our Heroine is working with in her lab, it's just a bit of introduce-the-characters banter. Actually, the zombie fungus doesn't zombify you until after you die of something else, then it basically makes a meat puppet out of your remains. So I think I've pretty much used up my handwavium supply.

[sashatwen]

As someone who's spent quite a few hours in the lab as a med student, I can tell you that nobody's keen on breathing in pretty much ANY spores, especially after you've seen them under the microscope. :D

Aspergillus fumigatus works well - it is common enough and infections of the lung or pretty much any other part of the body do happen, but usually only in the elderly and immunocompromised people (think chemo, aids, autoimmune diseases...) Nevertheless, you don't want it in your cavities.

Plus, I second all of the things said above.

[orange_fell]

Slightly late, but--did you delete the previous version of your comment? I was unspamming things on this post this morning, and didn't see it.

We turned the spam filters on here about a year and a half ago after an annoying plague of bots. Comments that get caught by mistake are usually unscreened within 24 hr.

[tigerbright]

There was a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts a few years ago that was found to be completely mold-infested when their medications started killing people.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Compounding_Center_meningitis_outbreak