We are examining the risk from the pyroaeromyobiome from a public health perspective. In particular, our goals are to determine: the association between exposure to wildfire smoke and mycoses diagnose; the mechanisms of fungal biota acquisition, maintenance and dispersal in wildfire smoke; the concentration and composition of microbes is aerosolized into smoke columns by wildland fire; whether microbes aerosolized in wildland fire smoke are viable, and under what conditions; the presence of Cryptococcus gattii presence pre/post fire in endemic zones; and how mammalian (mouse) models respond to fungal pathogens in smoke. We are working with researchers at the University of Idaho and the University of Florida.
Pyroaeromycoses: fundamental discovery and modeling in an unexplored phenomenon
Investigator: Van Den Eeden, Stephen
