Invasive fungal infections are a growing threat to public health. Each year, these pathogens cause approximately 1.5 million deaths worldwide, as many as tuberculosis and more than malaria, and cases are increasing worldwide due to multiple factors. One of the main ones is the result of the progress of 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 list prepared by the World Health Organization with the most dangerous infectious fungi for humans, some of which have developed a worrisome drug resistance. It is the same step it took in 2017 with superbugs, whose multi-resistance to antibiotics alerted the authorities. Now, estimates put the number of deaths caused by these microorganisms at 1.27 million.
“And it has been seen that the same thing is happening in fungi,” says Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, a researcher at the National Center for Microbiology at the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid. “Furthermore, in fungi there is the problem that there are not so many diagnostic tools and there are very few antifungal compounds available. So, if resistance increases very quickly, we get into a serious problem and that is why it was the right time to do it, ”adds the 41-year-old from Madrid, who has led the group of technical experts for the WHO report, a study in which 400 people have contributed and for which 6,000 documents have been reviewed. The text highlights the knowledge gap surrounding fungal infections, the lack of diagnostic methods and the low investment allocated to this type of infection, less than 1.5% of all funds for infectious disease research.
You can find the report on the most worrying fungi for public health in the video that heads this article.
List of priority infectious fungi
- Critical Priority Group: Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus Y Candida albicans.
- high priority group, Nakaseomyces glabrata, Histoplasma spp., causative agents of eumycetoma, 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 Y Paracoccidioides spp.
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