Deadly Fungal Infections Are Hard to Treat and on the Rise

"It wasn't the cancer or rounds of chemotherapy and radiation that almost killed David Erwin. It was a fungus most people inhale every day.

Fungal infections kill more than 1.6 million people yearly, according to Global Action for Fungal Infections, a research and fundraising organization. The toll is climbing. Fungi are adapting to rising temperatures in ways that may make them better suited to thrive in the human body, researchers said. And more people undergoing treatments that weaken their immune systems means a larger population vulnerable to severe fungal infections.

Immunocompromised people are at particular risk of severe fungal infections, infectious-disease experts said.

The overuse of antibiotics is also contributing to the burgeoning threat of fungal infections, infectious-disease experts said.

At least 7,000 people died in the U.S. from fungal infections in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. In 1969, the CDC reported 450 such deaths. Current cases are likely undercounted because of misdiagnoses, the agency said.

"Public awareness of fungal infections is abysmal," said Peter Pappas, an infectious-disease specialistat the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "They think of toenail fungus or jock itch. They don't understand that with some of these invasive fungal infections, if left untreated or even when they are treated, they can often lead to death."

Mr. Erwin, a 60-year-old former manager at a trucking company, hadn't heard of the fungus Aspergillus until the spring of 2021, when a neurosurgeon dug out a colony of it from his brain.

Mr. Erwin, who lives in Joliet, Ill., had completed chemotherapy for throat cancer in 2020. He said he continued to experience symptoms that flummoxed physicians. He lost the use of his right arm and leg and developed debilitating back pain. The mass the surgeon removed helped confirm that Aspergillus had colonized his brain, lungs and spine. The common mold can grow on carpets, pillows and in air conditioners.

More than 75,000 people are hospitalized in the U.S. every year with fungal infections, one-fifth of which are caused by Aspergillus, the CDC said. Fatality rates associated with some fungal infections including severe cases involving Aspergillus can exceed 50%, research shows.

The CDC last month urged patients and healthcare providers to consider fungi a potential culprit if an infection isn't responding to treatments. The World Health Organization said it plans this year to release a list of priority fungal diseases that it hopes will spur funding for research and drug development.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved four classes of antifungal medications for invasive infections. A new class to treat severe diseases hasn't been approved in over two decades. Most antifungals for serious infections are toxic, some even at low doses. Several antifungal drugs are in development and researchers are probing potential vaccines." [1]

What about Lithuania? Lithuania is OK. No mushrooms, no fungi grow in Lithuania. The only problem for us, little Lithuanians, is: How to beat China.

1.  U.S. News: Deadly Fungal Infections Are Hard to Treat and on the Rise
Mosbergen, Dominique. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 25 Oct 2022: A.5.