Cliff Notes
- A newly-researched fungus species, aspergillus, is poised to spread from warmer regions to Europe and the UK due to climate change, potentially increasing infection risks.
- The spread’s extent will be influenced by global fossil fuel phase-out efforts; delayed action will elevate health threats, particularly to vulnerable populations.
- With few effective antifungal treatments available, there’s an urgent need for healthcare systems to adapt to these emerging pathogens as global warming progresses.
Killer fungus forecast to spread to UK as climate changes
A killer fungus that infects millions of people a year in hotter climes may soon spread through Europe and into the UK as the world warms further, according to a new study on how climate change spreads disease.
The aspergillus species – which can cause deadly human brain infections, spoil livestock and render crops unsafe to eat – is forecast to spread northwards from Africa and South America into Europe and Asia.
How far it spreads will depend on how quickly the world phases out fossil fuels and other drivers of climate change, the paper said, while slow action will put more people at risk.
Global warming is also upping the threat from diseases, such as those spread by mosquitoes like malaria and dengue.
Fungi are a growing concern but largely unexplored.
They live in the air, soil and inside our bodies and spread through spores in the air we breathe – but more than 90% are estimated still to be unknown to science.
Lead author of the new research, Norman van Rhijn from Manchester University, told Sky News they are “extremely difficult” to treat.
Few antifungal medicines exist, while the fungi themselves are increasingly drug-resistant and hard to spot and diagnose.
But these organisms are also essential to a healthy ecosystem, decomposing organic matter and helping to suck up climate-heating carbon dioxide.