The number of people dying from fungal infections has nearly doubled in the last decade as fungi become more infectious and dangerous comorbidities such as lung diseases and HIV have increased.
TO paper published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases this week found that there are 6.5 million invasive fungal infections and 3.8 million fungal-related deaths each year worldwide, and 2.5 million of those deaths are directly caused by fungi.
This is an increase from the 2 million total fungus-related deaths found in a 2012 study. study.
For the 2024 analysis, David Denning, a fungal infection researcher at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, reviewed dozens of articles published between 2010 and 2023, analyzing data from 120 countries.
The World Health Organization expressed concern about 19 “priority pathogens” that are growing and becoming resistant to treatments, including yeasts and molds. Four types of fungi were included in the critical priority group: Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida Auris.
Nevada had the highest number of C. auris cases in the U.S. last year with 384. California followed with 359 cases and Florida with 349.
In November 2023, US health officials sounded the alarm about a massive increase in cases of a “super fungus” that originated in Nevada.
While people often get sick from bacteria and viruses, fungi are behind many common (and benign) infections such as athlete’s foot, fungal infections, oral thrush, ringworm, and fungal nail infections.
Most of these can be cured with creams or oral antifungals. Some fungi even live in the human body, but a strong immune system fights infections.
However, due to the rise of antibiotic-resistant fungi, fungal evolution, and the lack of protective measures such as vaccines, some experts believe that dangerous fungal infections could become epidemic.
Fungi also live in air, soil, plants, and water. About half are harmful. Recognizable fungi include mold, mildew, and mildew.
However, some forms of fungi can cause serious illness, especially in people with weakened immune systems.
Rare and serious conditions such as chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA), invasive candidiasis, Pneumocystis pneumonia, and Cryptococcus meningitis can cause organ damage, brain inflammation, and even death.
The 2024 article reported that 1.8 million cases of CAP, a serious lung disease with a five-year survival rate of 20 percent, occur worldwide each year, with 340,000 deaths.
There are approximately 1.56 million cases of Candida bloodstream infections (a type of invasive candidiasis) and 995,000 people die from this condition each year.
Pneumocystis pneumonia is a very rare infection that occurs most often in people with weakened immune systems, such as HIV patients. It infects 505,000 people and kills 214,000 people worldwide each year.
Cryptococcal meningitis – a fungal infection that spreads from the lungs to the brain – infects about 194,000 people and causes 147,000 deaths a year worldwide.
Most common in the United States, valley fever, caused by the fungus coccidioidomycosis, lives in the soil and infects people who breathe in the fungus.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there were 20,000 cases in the US in 2019.
It occurs primarily in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
However, the infection is becoming more common and a 2019 study predicted that the valley fever endemic area will more than double by 2095 and that states reporting valley fever will increase from 12 to 17.
In November 2023, US health officials raised the alarm about a massive increase in cases of a “super fungus” that originated in Nevada and began spreading to other parts of the country.
The above shows the presence of valley fever infections throughout the world. Valley fever occurs primarily in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there were 20,000 cases in the US in 2019.
In October 2023 alone, there were nearly 200 people in Southern Nevada who tested positive for Candida auris, known as C auris, a strain of microscopic yeast that can cause infections of the bloodstream, brain, heart or other organs. That’s more than double what it was in 2021.
Sharon McCreary, 61, previously told DailyMail.com that her mother Lorraine, 86, suffered a fatal stroke in 2022 after contracting the microscopic strain of yeast Candida auris. It is believed that Lorraine was infected with the fungus while she was in hospital, where it is becoming more common.
Originally admitted to hospital with pneumonia, Lorraine was beginning to recover when her condition rapidly deteriorated.
He was diagnosed with C auris, which kills up to half of the people it infects. Doctors believe he may have contracted the fungus through the oxygen tubes.
The infection began a fatal chain of events for Lorraine, in which C. auris caused sepsis and kidney failure, ultimately leading to a fatal stroke.
Sharon McCreary (left) with her mother Lorraine McCreary (right) at an MLB baseball game in 2017. Lorrie died after contracting Candida auris in a hospital in 2022.
Some scientists speculate that climate change has helped some fungal species evolve to tolerate conditions that previously would not have allowed them to survive.
Additionally, advances in medicine that allow people to live with organ transplants or once-fatal diseases like HIV, but with a compromised immune system, could also be contributing to increased infections or deaths.
The article found that more than 2 million annual cases and 1.8 million deaths from invasive aspergillosis fungal infection occur in people who have other health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer and tuberculosis.
And fungal infections contribute to about half of the 600,000 deaths annually worldwide from poorly controlled HIV or AIDS.
Mr Denning said the incidence of fungal infections is much more common than previously thought, but that increased awareness, appropriate testing and timely diagnosis could reduce the “substantial number of premature, mostly avoidable, deaths from fungal diseases.” life-threatening.”