Due to the impact of Covid-19, fungal infections are spreading worldwide: What makes them dangerous.

Fungal diseases are spreading due to climate change

A global outbreak of rare fungal diseases is spreading worldwide. This is facilitated by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, as fungi have likely adapted to higher temperatures. Bloomberg reports this.

Doctors are only now beginning to realize the rate at which fungal infections are spreading. The rapid warming has helped these diseases learn to overcome the natural defense of humans – body temperature. Bloomberg notes that mild fungal diseases have become common – for example, dandruff. However, diseases caused by the fungus Candida auris, which often affects people with weakened immune systems, are much rarer – but this fungus kills up to half of those infected.

The fungus Candida auris is now present on all continents except Antarctica. Fungi that cause severe diseases have also started affecting young healthy people, indicating the growing power of these pathogens.

While the number of recorded cases of diseases caused by deadly fungi is still small compared to other diseases, the rate of their spread in recent years is concerning, as is the fact that mutations make them more resistant to treatment. Millions of cases also remain unrecorded as the pathogens play an indirect role in people's deaths from cancer to HIV infection.

The fungus Candida auris was first found in the ear canal of a patient in Japan in 2009. But already in 2022 – the last year for which there are comprehensive data, this fungus was found in 2,377 people in the USA. This is more than seven times the number in 2018, when it was decided that diseases caused by this fungus should be reported to health authorities.

«People are aware of toenail fungi, but they do not consider that fungi are increasingly causing life-threatening diseases. The world is only beginning to realize the need for more accurate and faster diagnosis of fungal infections in people,» says Professor Sarah Gurr, who specializes in fungal infections at the University of Exeter.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals were filled with patients – this also contributed to the spread of fungi. In 2021, mucormycosis, or black fungus, spread in Indian hospitals due to mold-contaminated oxygen pipes and humidifiers used to treat coronavirus patients.

In June 2024, Chinese researchers reviewing medical records from 2009 to 2019 identified two patients infected with the fungus Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis. Although it was previously believed to be unable to infect humans, in laboratory studies, it withstood normal human body temperature. Under heat stress, it also developed mutations that rendered existing antifungal medications ineffective for infected mice.

The global quarantine induced by the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted human interactions and altered the impact of various pathogens on humans. Now, the human immune system may be less protected against infectious diseases than before. This also explains why various diseases are now returning with increased intensity.

Recall that the world press is sounding the alarm: Ukraine has become a breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant infections. The Sunday Times published an article titled "The war in Ukraine has uncovered superbugs that have mutated and can resist antibiotics." The article, in particular, refers to a study by a professor of clinical bacteriology at Lund University, during which the scientist examined samples from 141 patients undergoing treatment in Ukrainian clinics.