A killer fungus that be infecting millions of people a year in hotter places might be on its way to Europe and the UK as the world gets warmer, a new study suggests. The aspergillus species, which can give humans brain infections, mess up livestock, and make crops unsafe to eat, is expected to move north from Africa and South America into Europe and Asia. How far it goes will depend on how fast the world stops using fossil fuels and other things that make the climate change, the study says. If people don’t act quickly, more folks could be in danger.
Climate change is also making diseases spread more easily, like the ones passed on by mosquitoes such as malaria and dengue. Fungi, which are a big worry but not really looked into much, can live in the air, soil, and even inside our bodies. They spread through spores in the air we breathe, but more than 90% of them are thought to be unknown to science. Norman van Rhijn from Manchester University, who led the new research, told Sky News that treating these fungi is “extremely difficult.” There aren’t many antifungal medicines available, and the fungi are becoming more resistant to drugs, making them hard to detect and diagnose.
These organisms are also important for a healthy environment, breaking down organic matter and helping to absorb carbon dioxide, which heats up the climate. People who watch the TV show The Last Of Us might see some similarities with the threat in the series: a fungus that changes brains and causes chaos. But Dr. Van Rhijn says that reality is already pretty scary. Infections from all fungi kill about 2.5 million people worldwide every year. Strong immune systems can fight off the spores, but people who are more vulnerable can end up with infections like invasive aspergillosis, which moves fast from the lungs to other body parts like the brain and currently causes 1.8 million deaths globally each year.
“Most fungi hang out in the environment,” Dr. Van Rhijn explained. “Since the environment is changing so quickly, we are likely to see new diseases and infections popping up over the next 50 years or so.” The researchers studied the places where the fungi could live and how these areas would change as the world gets warmer. The planet is predicted to warm by 2.6-3.1 degrees Celsius. Even in the best-case scenario of only 2 degrees of warming, Aspergillus fumigatus and flavus would move farther north into the UK and Scandinavia, probably disappearing from southern Europe. Aspergillus niger would spread by 10%, affecting up to 10 million more people in Europe.
Professor Dann Mitchell from Bristol University, who was not part of the study, warned that healthcare systems need to be ready to “recognize and respond to these new threats” since misdiagnoses are common when pathogens show up in unfamiliar places. The researchers also found that temperatures in Africa could get so high that some fungi would vanish from the continent. The study has not been reviewed by other experts yet, but it was supported by the Wellcome Trust, a respected health institution that funded the research. Viv Goosens, a research manager at Wellcome, said, “Fungal pathogens are a serious threat to human health because they cause infections and mess up food systems. Climate change will only make these risks worse. To tackle these challenges, we need to fill in important research gaps.”
