Fatal plant fungus infects man for first time and experts are on high alert, should we be worried?

A 61-year old plant mycologist in India has become the first human to contract a fungal disease from a plant. The unnamed man is believed to have been infected by chondrostereum purpureum, which causes silver leaf disease in plants.

The fungus is spread by airborne spores and is not known to infect humans but the man suffered flu-like symptoms including a hoarse voice, cough, fatigue and difficulties swallowing for three months.

Fungal infection

The patient received treatment at Consultant Apollo Multispecialty Hospitals in Kolkata where scans revealed the infection had also caused a paratracheal abscess in his neck, which was blocking his airway.

The man had his abscess drained and was put on daily antifungal medication for two months and, two years later, is said to be doing well.

As a plant mycologist, the man spent a lot of time working with mushrooms and various plant fungi but how the infection jumped from fungal spores in plants to a human is baffling health experts.

In the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports, medics say the case is raising serious questions about the ability of plant pathogens to cause disease in healthy humans and animals, as per Sky News:

If the fungi can escape the phagocytosis pathway and are able to evade the host immune system, then they can establish themselves as human pathogens.

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Should we be worried?

Millions of fungal infections currently exist though scientists have only identified around 150,000. Of these, only a few can survive in the human body but still around 300 million people are affected by serious fungal pathogens each year, causing 1.6 million deaths, as per The Telegraph.

Speaking about this case, Professor Elaine Bignell, of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, said it’s still unknown if the man had some genetic immunodeficiency of some sort or if it’s a risk for everyone.

There are still questions to be asked about his predisposition, this organism, and how it became capable of colonising the airwaves.

We cannot ever rule out any unknown condition - he was clearly studying the fungus in a sort of experimental or botanical situation. He may have been exposed to an incredibly high number of spores somehow.

It's a new kid on the block - and we don't know much about it.

Fungal infections are expected to become more dangerous to human beings in the future due to growing resistance to medicines and rising global temperatures. Warmer climates allow fungi to grow more easily within the human body and existing fungal infections could spread to new populations.

The World Health Organisation recently released a list of the 19 most dangerous pathogens in a bid to encourage further investment in tackling the problem.

Read more:Everything you need to know about fungal acne

Sources used:

- The Telegraph 'Indian man is world’s first person to contract fungal infection from a plant'

- Sky News 'Killer plant fungus Chondrostereum purpureum infects man in India in 'world-first case''