An Indian patient was the first to catch a plant fungus that otherwise only kills plants. He was successfully treated.
A 61-year-old man has become the first person in the world to be infected with a deadly fungus after it crossed over from plants to humans. The Indian worked professionally with plant fungi and went to the ambulance after showing flu-like symptoms for months.
The patient, whose name is not known, had a hoarse voice, cough, recurrent sore throat, fatigue and difficulty swallowing before doctors discovered a huge abscess in his windpipe during an examination. These abscesses can be fatal if not recognized and treated immediately because they can block the airway and lead to life-threatening infections. Doctors drained the pus and sent samples to the lab for testing.
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Diagnosis: chondrostere purpureo
Analysis showed that the man was infected with the fungus from the plant Chondrostereum purpureum. He was given a prescription medication that he had to take for two months and made a full recovery. The case was documented in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.
This is the first case when the fungus jumped from a plant to a person. It causes silver leaf disease in plants, which is spread by airborne spores and gives plants’ leaves their metallic color before slowly killing them. It is believed that he contracted the disease through research that involved direct work with molds, yeasts and fungi.
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Chondrostereum purpureum causes deadly silverleaf disease in plants (pictured).Getty Images/iStockphoto
Rising temperatures accelerate mutations
Among the millions of fungi found in the environment, only a few hundred fungi are currently capable of infecting humans and animals. The case “raises serious questions” because it proves that the infection can affect “healthy and immunocompromised individuals”, they warned. Rising temperatures accelerate the number of mutations that occur in fungi, which can increase drug resistance and make them better adapted to survive in the human body.
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Life-threatening “killer fungus” is spreading rapidly
Early last week, US health officials issued a warning about the fungus Candida auris, noting that the disease, which kills up to 60% of those infected, has tripled in recent years and that they have become resistant to several drugs. In fact, the fungus can only attack insects like ants. Candida auris is a yeast that was first identified in Japan in 2009 in the external auditory canal of a 70-year-old patient. Hence its name: “Auris” is the Latin word for “ear”.
Life-threatening “killer fungus” is spreading rapidly
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