Rise of Candida auris(drug resistant fungal infections) blamed on global warming
Date:
July 23, 2019
Source:
American Society for Microbiology
Summary:
Global warming may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of Candida auris, according to a new study. C. auris, which is often multi-drug resistant and is a serious public health threat, may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging from climate change.
Global warming may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of Candida auris, according to a new study published in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. C. auris, which is often multi-drug resistant and is a serious public health threat, may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging from climate change.
"The argument that we are making based on comparison to other close relative fungi is that as the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including Candida auris, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human's protective temperatures," said Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, Chair, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. "Global warming may lead to new fungal diseases that we don't even know about right now."
C. auris emerged independently on three continents simultaneously, with each clade being genetically distinct. "What is unusual about Candida auris is that it appeared in three different continents at the same time, and the isolates from India, South Africa, and South America are not related. Something happened to allow this organism to bubble up and cause disease. We began to look into the possibility that it could be climate change," said Dr. Casadevall. "The reasons that fungal infections are so rare in humans is that most of the fungi in the environment cannot grow at the temperatures or our body." Mammalian resistance to invasive fungal diseases results from a combination of high basal temperatures that create a thermal restriction zone and advanced host defense mechanisms in the form of adaptive and innate immunity.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190723085941.htm
Candida auris is a species of fungus first described in 2009, which grows as yeast. It is one of the few species of the genus Candida which cause candidiasis in humans.
Candidiasis can cause invasive candidiasis, in which the blood stream (fungemia), the central nervous system, kidneys, liver, bones, muscles, joints, spleen, or eyes are invaded. It usually presents with other co-morbidities such as diabetes, sepsis, lung diseases, and kidney diseases.
C. auris has attracted increased clinical attention because of its multiple drug resistance.
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/recommendations.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ffungal%2Fdiseases%2Fcandidiasis%2Frecommendations.html
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