In February A New York City dermatologist contacted the state health department about two unrelated female patients, ages 28 and 47, who were suffering from the same vexing problem. They had ringworm, a scaly, crusty, disfiguring rash that covered most of their body. Although ringworm sounds like a parasite, it was caused by a fungus, and in both cases the fungus was a species never documented in the United States. It also had severe drug resistance, requiring weeks of treatment with several antifungal drugs. There were no indications of where the patient had become infected. The older woman had visited Bangladesh the previous summer and must have been picked up in the city by a younger woman who was pregnant and had no travel experience.
It seemed alarming, but one of the largest and most mobile cities on the planet is experiencing strange medical incidents. The state reported the case to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and New York physicians and some CDC staff prepared the report. CDC Weekly.
Then, in March, some of the same CDC investigator reported The fungi they were chasing—Candida aurisis an extremely drug-resistant yeast that invades health care facilities and kills two-thirds of those infected. It tripled in two years. In April, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services urgently investigate the incident A fungal infection called blastomycosis broke out mainly in a paper mill, with 118 cases, the largest on record.And in May, health officials in the United States and Mexico jointly sounded the alarm About Meningitis Cases Caused by Fungi Fusarium solani, likely spread to more than 150 clinic patients via contaminated anesthetic products. By mid-August 12 people was dead
All of these outbreaks differ in scale, pathogen, location and people affected. But what ties them together is that they were all caused by fungi. And for the few researchers tracking such things, it’s alarming. Severe fungal infections, supported by incomplete data but also supported by hunch, are becoming more frequent, affecting more people and more difficult to treat, experts say. share the feeling of being
“Fungal infections are not well monitored,” admits Tom Chiller, an infectious disease physician and director of the CDC’s Division of Fungal Diseases. “So it’s hard to give a completely data-driven answer.
The question is why? There may be multiple answers. More and more people are living longer with chronic diseases, making them more vulnerable to weakened immune systems. But the problem is not only that fungal diseases occur more often. It also means that new pathogens are emerging and existing pathogens are claiming new territories. When experts try to imagine what could have such a wide-ranging impact, they come to the possibility that the problem is climate change.
