Fungal diseases 'growing increasingly resistant to treatment,' WHO says

Some fungal diseases in humans no longer respond to medicines, which increases the risk of severe illness and death as well disease spread, according to a new report.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published what it calls its first-ever report on the lack of tests and treatments for fungal infections.

Yeasts, moulds and mushrooms are all examples of fungi. Common toenail infections or vaginal yeast infections are common and treatable, but that's not always the case.

"Fungal diseases are an increasing public health concern, with common infections — such as Candida, which causes oral and vaginal thrush — growing increasingly resistant to treatment," WHO said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/fungal-diseases-who-1.7499070Open link View original on sh.itjust.works

180

Comments17

HellsBelle

sh.itjust.works

Since America has withdrawn from the WHO the game/tv series will now be known as "The Last of the US".

brrt reply

sh.itjust.works

Organisms like viruses, bacteria and fungi don’t care about country borders. The US withdrawing from the WHO sadly just means that the world will be less capable in responding to emerging threats overall.

Edit: Still a good joke though ;)

CurrentBias

lemmy.world

Good thing we've let an immune-dysregulating virus spread unchecked

Einstein

sh.itjust.works

I think fungi will take over the world. As time goes on, more of them become virulent and the already virulent become more virulent. Don't think humans will be able to keep up in the long term.

rivan reply

lemm.ee

I'm gonna agree and raise you: I think fungi took over the world before dinosaurs did. Think about it, the vast networks of mycorrhizae that allow for forests to exist is all fungus, some of the first standing organic structures on the planet were fungus, and when everything dies it gets consumed by fungus. Hell, there are radioactive fungi near Chernobyl that how found a way to consume the radiation as food. Fungi are wild.

Brkdncr

lemmy.world

I vaguely recall a post on Reddit about how scary fungal infections are compared to things like MRSA.

HellsBelle

sh.itjust.works

Fyi for those interested ...

The fungi in the top ‘critical priority’ category of the WHO’s fungal priority pathogens list (FPPL) are deadly, with mortality rates reaching as high as 88%. Advancements in treatments mean that more people are likely to be living with immunocompromised conditions, which also could mean increases in cases of invasive fungal diseases. This is a complex challenge to manage due to inaccessibility of diagnostic tools, limited availability of antifungal medicines, and a slow and complex R&D process for new treatments.

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240060241

The critical group includes Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans.

The high group includes Nakaseomyces glabrata (Candida glabrata), Histoplasma spp., eumycetoma causative agents, Mucorales, Fusarium spp., Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis.

Finally, pathogens in the medium group are Scedosporium spp., Lomentospora prolificans, Coccidioides spp., Pichia kudriavzeveii (Candida krusei), Cryptococcus gattii, Talaromyces marneffei, Pneumocystis jirovecii and Paracoccidioides spp.

PDF https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/363682/9789240060241-eng.pdf?sequence=1