From the Daily Mail: "Frightening maps show how deadly fungal diseases are surging across the US - as Michigan woman reveals lung-destroying strain has killed TWOof her relatives."
The death of a Michigan chef to a fungal infection has shone a light on a silent epidemic that has been growing in America for years.
Four deadly strains in particular have become more common in the past few decades, infecting thousands of people now compared to just dozens in the early 2000s.
DailyMail.com revealed the outbreak's latest victim earlier this week, 29-year-old Ian Pritchard, 29, whose lungs were 'ravaged' by blastomycosis - a microscopic yeast that spreads when people inhale its spores.
The fungus lurks in wet soil and rotting wood in the upper Midwest, but the warming global climate has allowed it to flourish on the East Coast as well.
Meanwhile in the west, Valley fever is sickening more people than ever, with cases in California tripling from 2014 to 2018 and from 2018 to 2022.
Also:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the World Health Organization, have ramped up alarms in recent years about fungal pathogens that can evade medicines.
Climate change coupled with international travel make the spread of potentially dangerous pathogens, including strains of fungi, more possible.
An estimated 7,199 deaths from fungal diseases occurred in 2021, according to the CDC. That's up from a total of 5,922 deaths the year prior, and 4,833 deaths the year before that.
So, stop international travel.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve known about pathogenic fungi for years now. And have had decent treatments for at least a decade. Hard to say if this is a true high year or not. Articles like this always make me wonder where the media has been for the last decade, as they try to drum up outrage for more clicks.
ReplyDeleteI also recognize that there may be immune issues from the vaccine in some fraction of the recipients. Time will tell.
Ed Grouch, MD