Data Indicates Deadly Fungal Outbreaks Are on the Rise Since Covid

Fungal Infections: Deadly Outbreaks Surge Following Covid Pandemic A largely unnoticed surge of rare but deadly fungi is accelerating around the world, helped by the Covid-19 pandemic and a warming planet that appears to be training them to survive at higher and higher temperatures. Jinshan Hong,Bhuma Shrivastava Bloomberg

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Mild fungi are everywhere, causing irritations like a black toenail or dandruff. Serious ones, like Candida auris that clings to the surface of medical equipment in hospitals and thrives in chronically ill people with weak immune systems, are far less common but kill as many as half of those infected.

A new data analysis shows that C. auris has emerged across about 20 geographies since the pandemic started, and is now on every continent except Antartica. Severe illness-causing fungal outbreaks have also start occurring among young, healthy people, signaling the pathogens’ growing strength. ...