Global warming could drive the emergence of new fungal pathogens

Increased heat tolerance in fungi with pathogenic potential due to global warming could bring new fungal diseases.

The field of infectious diseases is unique in medicine because it routinely faces new and unexpected syndromes and illnesses. For example, HIV, SARS-CoV, Candida auris and SARS-CoV-2 all emerged in human populations, causing diseases that were previously unknown to medicine. The two major sources of new infectious diseases are likely zoonosis, which refers to the acquisition of infections from non-human hosts, and the environment. Evidence suggests that human infection with HIV, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 is a result of zoonosis via other mammalian hosts, whereas C. auris is an environmental fungus that has recently emerged as a major human fungal pathogen.

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Fig. 1: Experimental infection of rabbits and mice provides evidence for a role of temperature in protecting against fungal infection, conferred by endothermy and adaptive immunity.

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Acknowledgements

A.C. was supported by National Institutes of Health grants AI052733-16, AI152078-01 and HL059842-19.

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  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Arturo Casadevall

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  1. Arturo Casadevall
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Casadevall, A. Global warming could drive the emergence of new fungal pathogens.
Nat Microbiol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01512-w

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  • Published: 29 November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01512-w

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