A team of killer fungi experts are working tirelessly to prevent the next global pandemic as there are at least four organisms deemed ‘critical’ threats.
Scientists at Australia’s National Mycological Reference Center (NMRC) are identifying new fungi that have the potential to spread on a global scale, causing mass infection and death because there aren’t antifungal drugs on the market.
Inside the lab, researchers are working on antifungal drug discovering, susceptibility testing and surveilling for emerging antifungal resistance.
The biggest threat is a yeast-like fungus called Candida auris which was first discovered in Japan in 2009, which can lead to serious blood infections in humans.
Roughly four million people die from fungal infections globally every year
Sarah Kidd, head of the NMRC, said ‘The Last of Us‘ has helped people become informed about fungal infections which are increasingly common and are estimated to result in four million global deaths annually.
The TV show ‘The Last of Us’ introduces a world where a fungus infects the population, turning people into zombies, and became an instant hit when it came out in 2023.
‘For the first time, people are interested in fungi,’ Kidd told SA Pathology.
‘They now understand that there’s more to it than superficial infections like athlete’s foot.’
She continued: ‘With the COVID-19 pandemic having just happened, and then watching this show, it has people asking, could this happen with fungi as well?’
The fungal infection in ‘The Last of Us,’ called the Cordyceps, ‘zombifies’ insects but doesn’t pose a threat to humans, Kidd told The Guardian.
Their cooler body temperature keeps them from spreading the infection to humans because it cannot grow at our normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees.
The HBO show ‘The Last of Us’ has raised awareness about how prevalent fungal infections are
Although Kidd said a zombie-like fungi-induced apocalypse isn’t a possibility in real life, ‘we are already experiencing a slow-moving fungal pandemic of sorts.’
The lack of fungal treatments has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to label four out of 19 fungal pathogens as posing a ‘critical’ threat to public health.
The CDC reported that the four major fungal infections include the Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans.
While Candid auris is the largest threat currently, it didn’t get more attention until five years later when it was identified in South Africa, India, and the U.S.
Last year, Kidd and her team realized Candida auris was a new kind of species that is resistant to drugs but have worked arduously to conduct diagnostic tests to understand, identify, and diagnose the disease.
Sarah Kidd is a researcher at the National Mycological Reference Center and said Candida auris is affecting immunocompromised patients
The Candida auris fungal infection is surging around the world as Australian researchers strive to find a treatment
Last year, Kidd and her team realized Candida auris was a new kind of species that is resistant to drugs but have worked arduously to conduct diagnostic tests to understand, identify, and diagnose the disease
Kidd told SA Pathology that it is ‘causing mayhem globally,’ but she and her team developed a PCR test to rapidly screen patients who might have contracted the fungal infection.
This quick screening process allowed hospitals to isolate patients faster and prevent Candida auris from spreading.
‘They’re calling this the first fungal superbug,’ Kidd told The Guardian, ‘because it behaves like any of those resistant bacteria.’
This fungus can live on people and spread easily from person to person until it slips into the bloodstream, creating a bacterial infection that has become resistant to antibiotics.
Fungal infections are beginning to spread around the world, and Candida auris is no exception.
It infected 2,377 Americans in 2022 and an additional 5,754 asymptomatic people tested positive, according to the CDC.
The most common symptoms include fever, low blood pressure, chills and body aches, but for the majority of people, there are no symptoms.
Scientists still don’t know how deadly it is, but the CDC reported the mortality rate of people infected with Candida auris is between 30 and 60 percent, but noted that the majority of patients who died did have underlying conditions.
The WHO reported that the quick spread of the fungus is likely due to increasing global temperatures from climate change which is causing fungal pathogens to spread and mutate and the increase of international travel.
But the bigger problem, Kidd said, is that ‘fungal disease has been neglected in terms of research and funding, development of diagnostics and of antifungal drugs.’
But Kidd said she and other researchers at the NMRC are working to develop tests and treatments to prevent future infections and the possibility of another pandemic.
