The new fungus has never been seen in humans before. (Image: Getty) Scientists in China have found a previously unknown fungal pathogen that can infect humans. The fungus Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis was discovered in clinical samples from two unrelated hospital patients.
Researchers found that, at higher temperatures similar to those of the human body, the yeast exhibited resistance to several first-line antifungal drugs. These temperatures also led to the emergence of "hypervirulent mutants" that caused more severe disease in lab mice. The findings “support the idea that global warming can promote the evolution of new fungal pathogens,” the researchers behind the discovery wrote in a report published June 19 in the journal Nature Microbiology.
The scientists discovered this after examining fungi samples from patients in 96 hospitals across China between 2009 and 2019. READ MORE: Silent killer fungal infection spreading 'rapidly' through US The fungus was detected in two humans in China. (Image: Getty) A total of 27,100 strains of fungi were collected and analysed, and only R.
fluvialis had never been seen in humans before. R. fluvialis was found in the blood of two unrelated patients who had serious underlying health conditions.
One patient, a 61-year-old, died in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Nanjing in 2013, while the other, an 85-year-old, died in 2016 after being treated in an ICU in Tianjin. The report does not specify whether the fungal infection directly contri.
