Infectious disease cleaning penc1/11/2024 ![]() ![]() In response to growing public health concerns about severe and life-threatening fungal diseases, the National Institutes of Health in September released a framework for how the U.S. “You would not put your retirement investment into this.” He said it could take eight years before a fungal vaccine is made available in the U.S.īut as awareness of climate change’s impact on fungal infections grows, funding support could grow and there could be a fungal vaccine developed sooner, Norris said. “As a risk-benefit investment proposal, it fails,” Galgiani said of developing a vaccine. Candida auris infections have been mostly limited to health care settings, and pose the biggest threat to very sick patients. Most people breathe in Aspergillus every day without getting sick, but it can be life-threatening for people with cystic fibrosis or asthma. and are usually serious for people with weakened immune systems. Valley fever, for example, is usually limited to the Southern and Western regions of the U.S. The viruses can be deadly for anyone, in any part of the world, he said, illustrating the need for vaccines to prevent those diseases.īy comparison, hundreds of species of fungi can cause illness in people, but the most common ones - such as those that infect the skin and nails, or cause vaginal yeast infections or athlete’s foot - are non-life-threatening, according to Galgiani.Īdditionally, severe cases are sporadic across the U.S., he said. Respiratory viruses, such as the ones that cause Covid, the flu or measles, infect millions of people and lead to thousands of hospitalizations worldwide each year, he said. Many in public and private spaces don’t see fungal vaccines as a "critical unmet need," he said. While experts know which fungi are best to target, vaccine development has been slow, mostly due to a lack of funding, said Galgiani, who is working to start a trial in humans for the Valley fever vaccine. So far, the vaccine has been shown to be effective in dogs, said John Galgiani, the director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The fungus, typically found in the hot, dry soils of the Southwest, is an "emerging threat," Norris said, because climate change is expanding its range. In Arizona, researchers are focused on a vaccine to prevent Valley fever, a lung infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides. With funding support, the researchers could start and finish the human vaccine trials within the next five years, she said. In preclinical trials, the experimental vaccine developed by Norris and her team was shown to generate antifungal antibodies in animals, including rhesus macaques. The fungus was first identified in Japan in 2009 and has since been found in over 30 countries, including the U.S., the CDC said.Ĭlimate change also threatens to make several infection-causing fungi more widespread: The fungus that causes Valley fever thrives in hot, dry soil, and the fungus that causes an illness called histoplasmosis prefers high humidity.įor now, Norris and her team have decided to focus on the three fungi responsible for the vast majority of fatal fungal infections in the U.S.:Īspergillus, a common mold that can cause an infection in the lungs and sinuses that can later spread to other parts of the body.Ĭandida, particularly Candida auris, a type of yeast that can cause serious blood infections, particularly in people in health care settings. One type of fungus, Candida auris, can be resistant to all of the drugs used to treat it, and is particularly dangerous for hospitalized and nursing home patients. These numbers, the CDC said, are likely an underestimate. In 2021, around 7,200 people died from fungal diseases. In the U.S., fungal infections are responsible for more than 75,000 hospitalizations and nearly 9 million outpatient visits each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While scientists aren’t worried that a fungal infection like the one seen in HBO’s “The Last of Us” will wipe out humanity, the infections are certainly a cause for concern.įungi cause a wide range of illnesses in people, from irritating athlete's foot to life-threatening bloodstream infections. Fungal infections are becoming more common in the United States, but unlike illnesses caused by bacteria or viruses, there’s no vaccine to protect against a fungal threat.
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