Deadly Fungal Infections Surge Amid Climate Change Crisis

ByNoah Caldwell

Fungal infections are “taking over the world” and now kill an estimated 2.5 million people annually – twice the number of tuberculosis deaths – according to a landmark World Health Organization (WHO) report released this week. The alarming rise in deadly fungi has prompted urgent calls for increased research as experts warn of inadequate diagnostics, treatments, and surveillance systems.

According to Professor Darius Armstrong-James, Infectious Diseases and Medical Mycology expert at Imperial College London, “Probably about a third of the world is infected by some kind of fungus.” While many infections are non-lethal skin conditions, increasingly resistant and deadly varieties are spreading rapidly, as reported by The Telegraph.

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Critically Dangerous Pathogens

The WHO’s fungal priority pathogens list identifies several “critical priority” fungi with mortality rates reaching as high as 88 percent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, “black fungus” or Mucormycosis made headlines when 51,000 cases emerged in India, causing black lesions as the infection invaded through the nose and potentially reached the brainstem.

“We have to give patients all the strongest drugs we can find…cut out all of the infected tissue which often means major surgery to the face and half their brain,” explained Prof. Armstrong-James. For many patients, the extent of blackened tissue is so severe that removal becomes impossible, resulting in death within days.

Surprisingly common fungi like Candida albicans, found “in about half the population inside our guts,” according to Dr. Rebecca Drummond, Associate Professor in antifungal immunity at the University of Birmingham, are among the four pathogens deemed “critical” by the WHO. Most people inhale between 100 to 1,000 Aspergillus spores daily, another critical priority pathogen.

Growing Vulnerability and Personal Impact

While these fungi are widespread, they primarily threaten individuals with compromised immune systems. As medical advances enable more people to survive with weakened immunity, the population vulnerable to fungal infections continues to expand.

Grace, 66, has battled Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis for over a decade after likely exposure during home construction. “My life has become much smaller,” she shared, describing daily lung bleeding and a “ball of fungus” in her lungs that requires expensive intravenous treatment.

Her doctors had to lobby the Welsh government to approve her medication costs. Grace believes earlier diagnosis would have significantly improved her outcome: “If your asthma’s getting out of control, if antibiotics aren’t really solving the problem, you need to be tested for fungal disease.”

Climate Change Accelerating the Threat

Climate change appears to be worsening the fungal crisis. Most fungal species cannot grow above 37 degrees Celsius (human body temperature), which may have evolved as a natural defense. However, rising global temperatures are helping fungi adapt to warmer environments.

“Because of global warming, more and more so-called non-pathogenic fungi are spending more and more time adapting to temperatures that could enable them to cause invasive infections in humans,” warned Prof. Armstrong-James. This adaptation is occurring at alarming rates.

A study in China discovered a fungus previously unable to infect humans that had begun making patients sick. When cultured at body temperature, it mutated 21 times faster than at cooler temperatures and developed resistance to multiple antifungal drugs.

Climate-related dust storms have also contributed to a 400 percent increase in Valley fever cases between 1998 and 2015, according to the CDC. This infection results from inhaling fungal spores present in soil across the southwestern United States and parts of Latin America.

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Limited Treatment Options

Drug-resistant fungi like Candida auris, described by some scientists as a “silent pandemic,” are particularly concerning. Just this week, the UK Health and Security Agency issued a warning about this “rapidly emerging” pathogen that was undetected until 2009 but has now spread globally.

The problem extends beyond hospitals. “Antifungal drugs that we would use in the clinic to treat infections are actually the same types of antifungal drugs that we would use in agriculture to protect plants,” explained Dr. Drummond. This has led to fungi developing resistance in the environment before ever encountering patients.

Development of new treatments is challenging because fungi are biologically similar to humans. “The closest relative to fungi, the fungal kingdom, is us,” notes Dr. Drummond. “The biochemistry of the fungal cell is very similar to our cells, which means that if you’re trying to find a drug that’s going to kill the fungus, you have to be really sure it’s not gonna be toxic to us as well.”

In the past decade, only four new antifungal drugs have been approved in major markets, while diagnostic capabilities remain severely limited in low and middle-income countries. Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance, emphasized that this diagnostic gap leaves many suffering without proper treatment.

While experts consider a catastrophic fungal pandemic unlikely, they warn that these infections “will cause lots of problems over time if we don’t deal with it now.” The WHO is calling for urgent research and development to address this growing public health threat.

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Noah Caldwell

Noah is a veteran journalist with a passion for uncovering the truth behind global events. From geopolitical shifts to breaking news, his sharp investigative skills bring depth and clarity to every story.

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