Fungi are ubiquitous in nature and are mainly the opportunistic infections which occur whenever the immunity of humans fails them. The fungus which infects plants and the fungus which can infect humans have different properties. For this reason there have been almost no crossover infections seen between their hosts.
Recently a very rare case was seen in Kolkata, India, where a man who is a professional plant mycologist got infected by a fungus which usually infects plants. There have been no cases reported so far about this fungal specie infecting any human being. This makes this man the first person to be infected by it. According to the researchers, this marks the proof of how a plant fungus can cross over to the human side and infect them.
Full incident of Plant fungus Infection
According to the full case report published in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports, the patient is a 61 year old man who has a profession of being mycologist which causes him to be in regular exposure of dead and decaying material. Doctors have hypothesized that maybe due to constant exposure to this fungus, the infection became possible.
The man came to a hospital in Kolkata with complaints of coughing, hoarse voice, fatigue, difficulty in swallowing and anorexia for the last three months. After tests it was identified that he had an abscess on the right side of his windpipe.
According to the researchers, Dr. Soma Dutta and Dr. Ujjwayini Ray from the Consultant Apollo Multispeciality Hospital, Kolkata, the patient had no history of any chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, or any history of immunosuppressant drug intake. They further explained that the plant fungus was Chondrostereum purpureum which commonly causes Silver leaf disease mainly in the plants of the Rose family. This being the first incidence of a plant fungus infecting a human therefore the conventional techniques, microscopy and culture, were unable to identify the fungus.
According to the researchers, It was evident on examining the sample under the microscope that the infection causing organism is not any bacteria but a fungus and it was further confirmed by observing its growth on a petri dish. But due to not having any records pertaining to human infection of this fungus, it was difficult to identify the fungus. The samples were sent to WHO from where through sequencing the identity of the fungus was known.
Out of the woods.
Silver Leaf Disease caused by Chondrostereum purpureum is a deadly disease of the plants. This has caused many rose plants to succumb to it. In addition to it being the first time that this fungus infected a human being it is also peculiar in the fact that it affected a normal healthy individual instead of an immunocompromised person.
Luckily the man was able to get treated upon time. According to the doctors, the abscess was surgically operated and drained with further X- rays not revealing any other abnormality. The patient was further treated with a full course of antifungals. The doctors further added that the patient was absolutely fine and no evidence of recurrence was found in the 2 years of follow up.
According to the researchers, this case calls attention to the fact that the environmental plant fungus has the potential to infect humans and it may occur even if you are not immunocompromised due to any reason. It also shows the significance of molecular techniques to identify rare types of infections.
This also highlights the importance of contacting our healthcare provider as soon as we notice something wrong with our health to get timely diagnosed and treated.
