World Health Organization identifies priority pathogens of greatest threat to public health as diseases grow resistant to antifungal treatments
Health-threatening fungi are spreading in geographic range due to climate change, while some fungal diseases spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to authors of a newly released World Health Organization report.
On Tuesday the WHO published its first ever list of fungal priority pathogens, cataloguing 19 organisms that experts identified as being of the greatest threat to public health.
“Currently, fungal infections receive less than 1.5% of all infectious disease research funding,” the report found, suggesting the true health burden of fungi is unknown, while “most treatment guidelines are informed by limited evidence and expert opinion”.