California's 'Sudden Oak Death' Disease, Impossible To Slow Down -- Study

California coastal forests have been infected with a fungal pathogen, which has caused a phenomenon called "sudden oak death" or the Phytophthora ramorum since 1995. The disease has been responsible for the millions of tanoak and oak trees that have been pulled out along the coast across the Monterey County, including the portions of Big Sur, Sonoma County and the Marin County.

The California's coastal forests have been infected by a pathogen, a fungus which affects varied trees differently, and not all are vulnerable. The fungus will tear through the forest, killing some trees while others are left standing. However, the fungal pathogen can cause some tree trunks to open a canker and bleed out a sap. The disease is related to the type of pathogen responsible for the potato famine in Ireland during the 1800s, according to News.

In coastal California, million acres of land have been greatly affected, spreading through rain and wind, and has extended to the different areas and into Oregon, according to University of California postdoc Richard Cobb. He further noted that the disease has likely spread into the state through the nursery trade.

Moreover, a research regarding the disease discovered that although there could have been a potential for the disease to stop from spreading, such possibility has already passed. Forces failed to coordinate immediately or provide financial assistance, hence, the disease model used in the research implies the continued spread of the disease.

University of Cambridge's Nik Cunniffe and other researchers from the North Carolina State University and University of California said that slowing the spread of the disease is no longer possible. As Cobb noted, stopping the sudden oak death would mean having to go in and eliminate the infected trees all over a big area. However, with so much fungal pathogen mass already in the forests of California, it is expected that the disease will continue to spread, Washington Post reported.