Rising temperatures increases dangers of disease-causing fungus
Global warming could lead to deadly heat-resistant fungi: The post-apocalyptic TV series The Last of Us may have foreseen a real life heat-adapting fungus that can wreak havoc on human bodies, according to a study published last week. Well, minus the zombie part, co-author of a study on the impact of rising temperatures on disease-causing fungus Asiya Gusa told the Independent.
How would that work? The microbes in disease-causing fungus are not likely to survive in the heat of healthy bodies, but rising external temperatures brought on by global warming can cause the microbes to change the way they act on humans during infection, a study says. In other words, as the fungus develops heat resistance to adapt outside the human body, it also develops increased disease-causing potential in humans.
But there is still a lot we don’t know: Researchers found that the rate of some mutations were five times higher in fungi raised at body temperature, compared to those raised at 30°C, it is still not clear how high the risk to humans can be or at which temperatures it can begin to cause serious harm.