A never-before-seen fungus that can infect humans has been detected in China.
Two men, aged between 60 and 80, have already died from infection with the pathogen, called R. fluvialis, although it is unclear whether the fungus contributed to their deaths.
Researchers at Nanjing Medical Center who made the discovery fear other people may also have contracted the disease, which is a type of yeast infection.
In an experiment with mice, R. fluvialis was shown to mutate rapidly, suggesting that the same could happen in humans if it becomes widespread.
Scientists have revealed that they have found a new fungus that can infect humans, called Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis (file image)
The fungus was discovered as part of an investigation into samples from tens of thousands of patients treated in hospitals across China between 2009 and 2019.
The two men did not know each other: they lived almost 800 kilometres apart. There was a three-year difference between the time they were hospitalised
They also had weakened immune systems: one man was taking immunosuppressive drugs while the second had diabetes.
But the cases have raised concern, especially after laboratory tests showed the new fungus was resistant to three commonly used first-line antifungal treatments (fluconazole, caspofungin and amphotericin B).
In a separate experiment in immunosuppressed mice, R. fluvialis was shown to mutate rapidly to form “hypervirulent mutants.”
And in a petri dish, it mutated 21 times faster at human body temperature than at room temperature, raising the risk of more dangerous strains emerging.
At this stage, scientists said it was unclear how the patients became infected and whether the fungus contributed to their deaths.
But in many cases, fungal infections (such as C. auris) are contracted in hospitals after patients are admitted for other conditions.
C. auris can spread into the blood and cause sepsis, which is when the immune system overreacts to an infection. It is fatal in about 30 percent of cases.
Dr David Denning, an infectious disease expert at the University of Manchester in the UK, said: Science Live —which revealed the study— that it is a “remarkable discovery” that “is a bad omen for the future.”
Dr Matthew Fisher, a fungal disease epidemiologist at Imperial College London, added that the fungus should not yet be considered a major, emerging threat.
“My first feeling here is that there are unstudied environments in China where these yeasts inhabit,” he said.
‘These two patients were unlucky enough to be exposed.’
The 61-year-old patient was admitted to a Nanjing hospital in 2013 with severe pancreatitis (or inflammation of the pancreas) and kidney damage.
He died of multiple organ failure after receiving treatment with antifungals.
The 85-year-old patient was admitted to a hospital in Tianjin, about 500 miles further north, in 2016 due to pneumonia.
He was also treated with antifungals, but died after suffering respiratory failure.
Over the decade analyzed, a total of 27,100 fungal strains were detected in hospitalized patients.
Of these, rare fungi accounted for only 1.7 percent of the strains, of which only one (R. fluvialis) was a new species that had not been previously recorded.
The scientists said their paper also highlighted the risk of global warming leading to the emergence of new pathogens, because the fungus mutates more at higher temperatures.
The study was published in the journal Microbiology of nature.
