Tree Fungus Affects Human for First Time – “Pandora's Box of Newer Fungal Diseases”

Few fungi can also infect animals and humans.

The dangerous tree fungus Chondrostereum purpureum made a man sick for the first time.

Calcutta - If trees are attacked by the fungus species Chondrostereum purpureum, this usually has serious consequences for them - similar to gray mold, which mainly attacks weakened plants.

The fungus causes the disease Silverleaf.

Silver-metallic appearing spores attack leaves and bark and kill plants.

Affected branches die off and the wood is decomposed.

Fungus Chondrostereum purpureum causes disease in humans for the first time

So far, Chondrostereum purpureum has only been associated with trees, but the fungus has now caused a disease in humans for the first time.

Scientists report on this in the June 2023 issue of the journal 

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It's about an Indian man who went to a hospital two years ago because of long-lasting symptoms.

The then 61-year-old patient from eastern India - a plant mycologist - told doctors that he had been suffering from hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, cough, an inflamed throat, fatigue and loss of appetite for three months.

The man also stated that he had no previous illnesses and that he worked professionally with rotting plants.

Experts fear that fungal infections in humans are likely to become more common in the future

The medics then performed a CT scan and discovered an abscess in his throat.

After aspirating the abscess, they sent the extracted pus to a lab for analysis.

Doctors suspected a bacterial infection, but the results were negative.

Upon closer examination of the pus, a fungal infestation was identified after a few days.

However, they could not find out which fungus it was.

Only a DNA sequencing by a laboratory of the World Health Organization (WHO) in India brought the result: it was Chondrostereum purpureum.

The man was finally treated successfully, and two years later, according to the report, there is no evidence of a recurrence of the fungus.

Several new pathogenic fungi: Candida auris yeast is spreading rapidly

The case nevertheless worries researchers.

Only a few of the millions of fungi that occur in nature can also affect animals and humans.

They enter the human body through damaged skin and the respiratory tract.

Likewise, few are able to survive body temperatures.

In Chondrostereum purpureum this has never been observed before.

Experts suspect that fungal infections in humans will be observed more frequently in the future.

Several new pathogenic fungi have emerged in recent decades, the authors write in the report.

One of them is the multi-resistant yeast fungus Candida auris, which is spreading rapidly and has “become a significant threat”.

This is likely to increase as a result of climate change and rising temperatures.

"Increasing global warming and other civilizational activities are opening a Pandora's box for newer fungal diseases," the scientists write.