WHO lists the main fungi that threaten health; look what they are

The entity says deaths from fungal infections are underestimated; the drugs lost their effectiveness

THE NEW YORK TIMES – A World Health Organization (WHO) has published a ranking of fungus that threaten human health with the ambitious goal of drawing attention to a constellation of largely ignored, albeit increasingly widespread, treatment resistant and deadly pathogens.

the WHO listed 19 invasive fungal diseases – including four which he called a “critical priority” – which kill 1.3 million people and contribute to the deaths of 5 million more each year. Many of these deaths occur among people with HIV, cancertuberculosis and other underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to infection.

Health officials say the death toll from fungal infections is likely to be much higher. This is because many hospitals and clinics, especially in poorer countries, do not have diagnostic tools for this type of infection.

“The bottom line is that invasive fungal infections are becoming more prevalent as they are often not recognized in patients and not treated properly,” Carmem L. Pessoa-Silva, a WHO official focused on surveillance and treatment, told a press. disease control. conference on Tuesday. “We don’t have a real sense of the scale of the problem.”

WHO framed the report as a call to action, and health officials said they hope the list will help create a greater sense of urgency among governments, drug developers, doctors and health policy experts.

Climate change has helped increase the geographic reach and prevalence of some infections, the WHO said. The coronavirus pandemic has also led to a spike in fungal infections among cancer patients. COVID-19 who have been in intensive care units, where resistant pathogens such as candida auris sometimes flourish, invading the human body through respiratory tubes and intravenous lines.

Like harmful bacteria, which evolve and become resistant to antibiotics due to their overuse in people and agriculture, antifungal drugs have also lost their healing power in recent years. Scientists said that increased resistance rates to Aspergillus fumigatus, a common mold that can be fatal to people with weakened immunity, has been linked to the prodigious use of fungicides on grape, corn and cotton crops.

Blood flow

Once a fungal infection enters the bloodstream, treatment becomes exponentially more difficult: bloodstream infections with candida fungi, for example, have a mortality rate of 30%. This figure is substantially higher among patients with Candida auris, one of the four “critical priority” fungi cited in the WHO report. The fungus, a yeast first identified in Japan in 2009, has spread to four dozen countries and is often resistant to more than one drug.

There are only four classes of drugs that treat fungal infections, “and very few new ones are mapped,” said Hatim Sati, another WHO official who helped write the report. Many of the existing drugs are so toxic, he says, that some patients cannot safely take them.

Doctors and researchers viewed the WHO’s decision to turn attention to fungal infections with optimism. “This should have been done by now, as fungal diseases have long been neglected, even as the problem grows exponentially,” said Cornelius Clancy, an infectious disease physician at the VA Pittsburgh Health System, who did not contribute to the report.

David Denning, CEO of the defense group Global Action for Fungal Infections, said that, in some ways, poor surveillance was at the root of this neglect.

Failure to diagnose fungal infections means patients often go untreated, he said, citing the study in Kenya, which found that improved surveillance efforts for fungal meningitis would save 5,000 lives each year among people with HIV. The annual cost of widespread testing, she said, would be about $ 50,000.

The lack of a diagnosis has other invisible consequences, Denning said. He used as a hypothetical example a leukemia patient who develops a fungal infection that proves fatal. “If that person dies of a fungal infection, his family members may want to donate money to a leukemia charity,” she said. “They won’t give it to a fungal disease charity, because leukemia is what they knew.”

See the WHO list of the main health-damaging mushrooms

“Critical Priorities” group:

• Cryptococcus neoformans
• aspergillus fumigatus
• Candida auris
• candida albicans

“High priority” group:

• Nakaseomyces glabrata (Candida glabrata)
• histoplasm spp.
• Causative agents of eumycetoma
• mucosal
• fusarium spp.
• Candida tropicalis
• Parapsylosis due to Candida

“Medium priority” group:

• Scedosporium spp.
• Cryptococcus gattoi
• Lomentospora prolific
• Talaromyces marneffei
• coccidioids spp.
• Pneumocystis jirovecii
• Pichia kudriavzeveii (Candida kruzei)
• paracoccidioids spp.

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Source: Terra

Benjamin

Benjamin Smith is a fashion journalist and author at Gossipify, known for his coverage of the latest fashion trends and industry insights. He writes about clothing, shoes, accessories, and runway shows, providing in-depth analysis and unique perspectives. He’s respected for his ability to spot emerging designers and trends, and for providing practical fashion advice to readers.