The world is filled with tiny creatures that find us delicious. Bacteria and viruses are the obvious bad guys, drivers of deadly global pandemics and annoying infections.
The world is filled with tiny creatures that find us delicious. Bacteria and viruses are the obvious bad guys, drivers of deadly global pandemics and annoying infections. But the pathogens we haven’t had to reckon with as much – yet – are the fungi.
Pathogenic fungi (Candida, Aspergillus, Cryptococcus and others) are notorious killers of immune-compromised people. But for the most part, healthy people have not had to worry about them, and the vast majority of the planet’s potentially pathogenic fungi don’t do well in the heat of our bodies.
But all that may be about to change.
A new study out of Duke University School of Medicine finds that raised temperatures cause a pathogenic fungus known as Cryptococcus deneoformans to turn its adaptative responses into overdrive. This increases its number of genetic changes, some of which might presumably lead to higher heat resistance, and others perhaps toward greater disease-causing potential.
Read more at: Duke University
This photomicrograph depicts Cryptococcus neoformans a fungal pathogen that has been causing an increasing number of life-threatening infections. People with AIDS, and those using immunosuppressive drugs are most vulnerable. (Photo Credit: U.S. Centers for Disease Control)
