Chinese Microbiologists Discover New Deadly Mutant Fungus
In China, scientists have discovered a new deadly fungus, Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis, which can infect humans. Two known antifungal drugs failed to help patients infected with it. Moreover, experiments show that the fungus mutates very quickly in the human body. Lenta.ru investigated how dangerous Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis is and how global warming helps it.
When and where was a fungus dangerous to humans found
In China, scientists found a microscopic fungus that can infect humans. In the study, they analyzed samples of various fungi taken from patients who were treated in different regions of the country from 2009 to 2019. Only two samples contained a previously unknown fungus. They called it Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis.
One sample was taken from a 61-year-old patient who was treated at a Nanjing hospital in 2013. The other was from an 85-year-old patient who was admitted to intensive care in Tianjin in 2016. For both, the fungal infection proved fatal.
What’s special about the new deadly fungus?
Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis has proven resistant to the popular antifungal drugs fluconazole and caspofungin.
To understand how the fungus behaves when it enters a living organism, scientists tried to infect laboratory mice with a weakened immune system with an unknown fungus. It turned out that when the temperature rises, it begins to mutate at a stunning speed and becomes more and more aggressive. The mutation rate at 37 degrees (human body temperature) was 21 times higher than at room temperature.
Petri dish with colonies of pathogenic fungi. Photo: luchschenF / Shutterstock / Fotodom
Earlier, the first case of human infection with a plant-infecting fungus was registered in India
In March 2023 reportedthat a resident of the Indian city of Calcutta has become the first person in history to become infected with a fungal disease that was previously thought to affect only plants.
The 61-year-old patient, whose name has not been released, presented to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. He complained of a persistent cough, hoarseness, difficulty swallowing and fatigue. At the time of presentation, the patient had been suffering from these problems for three months, although he had no chronic diseases or immune deficiency.
Doctors examined him and found an abscess in his trachea. After draining it, they sent samples of the pus to the lab. For a long time, specialists could not understand what the patient had become infected with, but it eventually turned out to be a fungus of the species Chondrostereum purpureum. As a rule, it only affects plants, causing a deadly disease called “silver leaf.”
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The patient underwent two courses of antifungal treatment in two months. After that, he visited the doctor regularly for two years, but there were no relapses of the disease. Presumably, he became infected with the fungus due to his work as a plant mycologist: he worked for a long time with mold, yeast and fungi.
According to experts, this case raises serious concerns among doctors, as it proves that the infection can affect both healthy people and those suffering from immune problems. They emphasized that global warming could lead to a surge in new fungal diseases, as the increase in temperature accelerates mutations. This could increase drug resistance and help fungi adapt to survive in the human body.
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