After Covid-19, will Fungi be the source of our next pandemic - Read report

This is a report by the University of California, Irvine in California. COVID-19 raised international awareness of the threats posed by zoonotic viruses, which jump from animals to humans. 

California: A focus on viruses as our next pandemic source may divert attention from other serious microbial threats. We know a lot about the benefits of fungi, including brewer's yeast, mushrooms, Roquefort cheese and the production of antibiotics such as penicillin. But we know a lot less about the threats to global health posed by fungi, such as those that emerged or re-emerged during the current pandemic. 

COVID-19 raised international awareness of the threats posed by zoonotic viruses, which jump from animals to humans. But a singular focus on viruses risks diverting attention and resources away from other microbial threats, particularly pathogenic fungi.

In mid-2021 reports emerged of serious fungal infections in patients with severe cases of COVID-19 and those recovering from the virus. Patients were diagnosed with respiratory infections from a mould called aspergillosis; invasive yeast infections; and, particularly in India, a serious but rare fungal infection, mucormycosis, which leads to prolonged severe illness and death.

Fungi are among the most diverse and versatile organisms on our mouldy planet earth. In the southwestern United States, and in Central and South America, the fungal pathogen that causes Valley fever, coccidioidomycosis, has long been recognised as a threat to animals and people because it is very commonly found in soil. Cases of Valley fever have increased steadily in the southwestern United States, where it has been considered endemic for more than a decade.

But the geographical scale of vulnerable populations is expanding as climate change enlarges the sandy desert zones where the fungus, Coccidioides immitis, grows.