[zmmmmm]

After reflecting I am wondering if this is a result of the natural tendency of scientists to avoid any hint of overstating their work. Were the fungal infections all in the same region or by the same fungus it'd be absolutely shocking. It'd be a "cold fusion" level revolution for the field - and a "cold fusion" level embarrassment for them if they are wrong. So they are extremely keen to put up front that the picture is not nearly so clear as that.

There is also a tendency when scientists are extremely confident they have found something incredibly important to understate it. I always think of the Watson and Crick "It has not escaped our notice ..." statement in this context.

This is all based on guesswork though, so that's why I'm curious about what people in the field think.