Invasive fungal infections are a growing public health threat. Each year, these pathogens cause about 1.5 million deaths worldwide, as many as tuberculosis and more than malaria, and cases are increasing worldwide due to several factors. One of the most important is the result of advances in modern medicine and access to therapies and interventions that damage the immune system, such as chemotherapy or transplants, since this type of infection mainly affects patients in this risk group. Climate change and the coronavirus pandemic are also associated with an increase in incidence.
These conclusions are part of the World Health Organization’s list of the most dangerous human infectious fungi, some of which have developed resistance to drugs of concern. It’s the same step as in 2017 with the superbugs, whose multi-drug resistance to antibiotics alarmed the authorities. Estimates now put the number of deaths caused by these microorganisms at 1.27 million.
“And the same thing has been observed to happen in fungi,” says Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, a researcher at the Carlos III Health Institute’s National Center for Microbiology in Madrid. “Another problem with fungi is that there aren’t as many diagnostic tools and very few antifungal drugs available. So when the resistance increases very quickly, we run into a serious problem and that’s why it was the right time for it,” adds the 41-year-old from Madrid, who led the group of technical experts for the WHO report, a study 400 people have contributed and for which 6,000 documents have been viewed. The text highlights the knowledge gap related to fungal infections, the lack of diagnostic methods and the small investment allocated to this type of infection, less than 1.5% of all funds for infectious disease research.
For the report on the fungi of top public health concern, see the video that precedes this article.
List of priority infectious fungi
- Critical priority group: Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans.
- High priority group, Nakaseomyces glabrata, Histoplasma spp., Eumycetoma pathogens, Mucorales, Fusarium spp., Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis.
- Medium priority group: Scedosporium spp., Lomentospora prolificans, Coccidioides spp., Pichia kudriavzeveii (Candida krusei), Cryptococcus gattii, Talaromyces marneffei, Pneumocystis jirovecii and Paracoccidioides spp.
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