1.5 million deaths from fungal infections every year

Fungal infections are underestimated by most people

20.12.2012

Fungal infections in humans are often underestimated. This is shown by a new study by the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Thus, already 1.7 billion people worldwide have suffered from a fungal infection at least once in their lives. While the pathogens are well visible on nail or skin, fungi inside the body can cause multiple and diffuse discomforts that can be life-threatening. According to the study, around 1.5 million people die every year from a fungal infection. Like the researchers around Gordon Brown in the „According to Science Translational Medicine, fungal infections cause at least as many deaths each year as tuberculosis or malaria, but tackling infections poses major challenges, as they are often difficult to diagnose and treat.

Fungal infections often underestimated
Among the 1.7 billion affected athletes take the largest share, the researchers said. Every fifth adult suffers from itchy rash by fungi at least once. Every tenth, nail fungus appears. In the over-70s age group, the fungal infection affects every second. Mycoses of the skin, hair and nails are usually caused by so-called dermatophytes (filamentous fungi). If there is no chronic infection, the fungal infection should be treated well. Physicians advise especially in case of suspected nail fungus to see a doctor, as the pathogens spread unhindered and in the worst case, even grow inward and can cause poisoning if the fungus is not treated.

According to the study, 50 to 70 percent of women of childbearing age are at least once affected by a fungal infection of the vaginal mucous membranes. Of these, about 75 million women suffer from the infection four times a year, mostly from yeast fungi of the genus „Candida“ is caused.

Fungal infections can be life-threatening
Less known are so-called invasive fungal infections, in which the pathogens invade the body and cause life-threatening diseases. Due to the multiple and sometimes diffuse symptoms of invasive fungal infection, diagnosis and treatment are often difficult. Brown and his team found a mortality of often over 50 percent despite therapies for these disorders.

The most threatening invasive infections are triggered by four different types of fungi: cryptococci, pneumocystis, candida and watering can mold. As cryptococcosis is a fungal infection with cryptococci, in humans usually „Cryptococcus neoformans“, which affects more than one million people each year. The mortality is between 20 and 70 percent depending on the region. The primary infection often proceeds without symptoms.

Aspergillosis is present if the infection is caused by watering can mold. This mushroom belongs to the genus „Aspergillus“ and affects mainly the lungs, but also skin, ears, and sinuses. In rare cases, metastases occur in the heart, kidney and central nervous system. Every year, more than 200,000 people suffer from aspergillosis, which ends in 30 to 95 percent of cases fatal.

The Pliz genus „Pneumocystis“ lives as an extracellular parasite in the lungs and causes severe inflammation there. Of the more than 400,000 people affected each year, between 20 and 80 percent die from the disease.

Candidosis is an infection with the fungi of the genus „Candida“ (Yeast fungi). In healthy people, the infestation usually reduces to skin or mucous membranes. If the immune system is weakened, the pathogens can also affect the internal organs, which leads to the study according to 46 to 75 percent of the approximately 400,000 affected annually to death.

Fungal infections are favored by immunodeficiency and medication
The immune system of a healthy person has effective defense mechanisms against fungal infections. As a result, Scottish researchers, the leading cause of high mortality from invasive fungal infections in recent decades, suspect the spread of HIV (HIV) and AIDS. In addition, more and more drugs would be used, which suppress the immune system and increasingly carried out invasive medical procedures. Immunosuppressive drugs - drugs that reduce immune system functions - are used, for example, in autoimmune diseases or after organ transplants to prevent rejection.

Despite the dramatic situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet launched a program against fungal infections, the researchers criticize. Few countries have monitored fungal activity, and public health research in the United States and the United Kingdom see only 1.4 to 2.5 percent of their budget for medicinal mushroom research. „Despite the urgent need for effective diagnostic tests and safe, effective new medicines and vaccines, research on fungal infections in humans is lagging behind in diseases caused by other agents, "the researchers complain.

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Image: Hamfel