Sporothrix brasiliensis is a fungus that gives cats oozing skin ulcers, can spread through their whole body, and jumps to the people around them. Since it emerged in Brazil in the 1990s it has sickened thousands of cats and more than 11,000 people across South America, and the CDC's Shawn Lockhart told Science News it's "just a matter of time" before it reaches the US — "We're waiting."
Unlike other shape-shifting fungi, it stays infectious in its yeast form, so cats pass it along by biting, scratching, grooming, even sneezing out "fungus-laden snot" that can linger on surfaces for weeks.
Lockhart said he's "convinced that half of the human cases that come from cats are people who are trying to stuff pills down their cat's throats to treat the sporotrichosis," getting scratched in the process.
As he puts it, "It is a mold in the cold and a yeast in the beast."
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